Imagery of Blacks
This is an email that I received and my subsequent reply. I am posting the two here because my reply was returned due to an un-recognized address from the sender. It is my hope that it can be discovered by its author on this site.
March 13, 2006
Dear Josh Arseneau,
I saw your work on thos webiste and found it interestimg that a great deal of the work uses "popula culture" imagery of Blacks. There defenately is an abundance of visual artists using the image of Black as commerce and this is nothing new since NBA, Rap, Rock, Blues have all benefited from the misuse of Black images and Black culture. Todays art scene is no exception and romanticizing "thug life" or oppressed people who provide a cuture so others can reap from it is something that should be really examined more thoroughly. I think the right step is to acknowledge the ills of our system by understanding the complexity of the damage it has created. Using imagery to make others aware becomes problematic when one doesnt umderstand how those images are already being exploited by "media." Understanding the different perspectives of our social ills is deeper than a one dimensional comment on rights and wrongs...about evil and god. Intentions get lost and commerce is hard to avoid when we realize that our social make up is just about exploting the opressed or weaker. This country was made on the blood of Black slaves and by their labor and their imagery...these things have not changed and your decisions to use image of blacks through a pop cultural lence should be re-thought otherwise your attempts will only be as exploitve as those your mission statement aims to address.
Sincerely
Robert Lock
March 16, 2006
Robert,
Thank you for responding to my artwork so thoughtfully. Many times it falls on blind eyes or on the souls of the apathetic. I agree with you wholeheartedly, as well. The imagery I chose to use for that series of paintings caused quite a stir and was often times misinterpreted. The easiest way to explain myself, I guess, would be to tell you the story of how it unfolded. I started the project in June of 2003 after I read an article in the New York Times on the civil war that was raging in Liberia. Much of the imagery of child soldiering that I used was appropriated from that historical event. I became really involved with the subject and was torn that the art I was creating could been seen as exploitative when it had meant so much for me to make it. I went to the West Coast of Africa in October of 2004 and visited Senegal and The Gambia, where I made a lot of friends and learned much about the cultures of the people who live there. I noticed in my travels that what young Africans see and hear about the US is from mass media sources like MTV and they strive to emulate that lifestyle. The lifestyle, of course, is the way our media portrays many African-Americans - like thugs. The paintings I made after that reflect my observation that the way we picture people of the US has effects that reach much further than we think. It's an effort to show that the violence we worship in the media is influencing the violent actions of young minds abroad, especially on the West Coast of Africa. The paintings are an attempt to show fear and powerlessness and futility - and how violence can be and escape from those aforementioned effects of marginalization.
I hope this helps you, Robert, and I know that I am guilty of our culture because I am consantly affronted by these images as well. If anything, this series of artworks should show that I am trying to make sense of the images of the world around me. Thank you again for your response.
--josh
March 13, 2006
Dear Josh Arseneau,
I saw your work on thos webiste and found it interestimg that a great deal of the work uses "popula culture" imagery of Blacks. There defenately is an abundance of visual artists using the image of Black as commerce and this is nothing new since NBA, Rap, Rock, Blues have all benefited from the misuse of Black images and Black culture. Todays art scene is no exception and romanticizing "thug life" or oppressed people who provide a cuture so others can reap from it is something that should be really examined more thoroughly. I think the right step is to acknowledge the ills of our system by understanding the complexity of the damage it has created. Using imagery to make others aware becomes problematic when one doesnt umderstand how those images are already being exploited by "media." Understanding the different perspectives of our social ills is deeper than a one dimensional comment on rights and wrongs...about evil and god. Intentions get lost and commerce is hard to avoid when we realize that our social make up is just about exploting the opressed or weaker. This country was made on the blood of Black slaves and by their labor and their imagery...these things have not changed and your decisions to use image of blacks through a pop cultural lence should be re-thought otherwise your attempts will only be as exploitve as those your mission statement aims to address.
Sincerely
Robert Lock
March 16, 2006
Robert,
Thank you for responding to my artwork so thoughtfully. Many times it falls on blind eyes or on the souls of the apathetic. I agree with you wholeheartedly, as well. The imagery I chose to use for that series of paintings caused quite a stir and was often times misinterpreted. The easiest way to explain myself, I guess, would be to tell you the story of how it unfolded. I started the project in June of 2003 after I read an article in the New York Times on the civil war that was raging in Liberia. Much of the imagery of child soldiering that I used was appropriated from that historical event. I became really involved with the subject and was torn that the art I was creating could been seen as exploitative when it had meant so much for me to make it. I went to the West Coast of Africa in October of 2004 and visited Senegal and The Gambia, where I made a lot of friends and learned much about the cultures of the people who live there. I noticed in my travels that what young Africans see and hear about the US is from mass media sources like MTV and they strive to emulate that lifestyle. The lifestyle, of course, is the way our media portrays many African-Americans - like thugs. The paintings I made after that reflect my observation that the way we picture people of the US has effects that reach much further than we think. It's an effort to show that the violence we worship in the media is influencing the violent actions of young minds abroad, especially on the West Coast of Africa. The paintings are an attempt to show fear and powerlessness and futility - and how violence can be and escape from those aforementioned effects of marginalization.
I hope this helps you, Robert, and I know that I am guilty of our culture because I am consantly affronted by these images as well. If anything, this series of artworks should show that I am trying to make sense of the images of the world around me. Thank you again for your response.
--josh
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