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how old you?
In March of this year, I will be 39 years old.
What did you want to be when you were a child?
The family I was born into is full of people who feel they don’t belong.But fortunately, through their work, primarily through education and medicine, they sought to create friendships and practices that could model other forms of togetherness. The professional command of or I was free to experiment with different ideas: singer, lawyer, activist. We all ended up working in art.
What experiences have influenced your life?
When I was in my early twenties, I lived in Senegal, West Africa. I arrive as a somewhat naive American and want to unite with other queer men and transgender women to improve our day-to-day experience in a country where much of our sex and gender-based lives are criminalized. I learned that showing up is not just about trying to solve structural problems, but about working with others to better understand your role. I have learned that disagreements and even conflicts are necessary when trying to resolve problems with others.
curated a recent exhibition Just Above Midtown: A Space in ChangeCan you talk about this project and your collaboration with Linda Good Bryant?
This exhibition tells the story of Just Above Midtown, or JAM for short, a road-making gallery started and maintained by Linda Good Bryant in New York City from 1974 to 1986. Linda was a single mother of two with her vision when she started the gallery.She was 25 years old. JAM had a particular focus on artists operating in ways unacceptable to the commercial art market. It is a temporary form that disappears and cannot be easily collected, like performance, and a conceptual practice in which recognizable images and materials are transformed into abstract visions. what will happen to the world JAM has also welcomed non-Black people and collaborated with other artists of color and other alternative art spaces focused on women who believe in the value of collectivity and resourcefulness.
Linda Good Bryant and I recognize the importance of this gallery and would like to say ‘no’ to the options available and then collaborate to ask about JAM’s model of using those options. Worked with a team of believers. Alternative resources are sorely needed today.
Does the likelihood of positive change increase when history is brought into the conversation?
Activation: Yes! History is all around us and often unconsciously raises eyebrows. There are things that raise eyebrows, types of food that make you want to taste them, and traditions of creativity and art-making that exist without institutional recognition or attention. One of my responsibilities and joys as a curator is to explain these histories and their ubiquity. It’s nice to be able to recognize the tradition of breaking the rules, without which there would be no community of artists. Taking these examples of alternating things allows us to better imagine a future that overthrows the oppressive forces of history, especially racism, capitalism and patriarchy.
As a society, are we beginning to abandon offensive narratives?
An awkward conversation, perhaps, where civil society has yet to catch up. And asking where these conversations are taking place, how to loosen the cues that control speech to change modes of communication, and who feels comfortable speaking where is an important part of influencing people. if it is a role.
What is your favorite place in New York?
The place in New York that supports me is where I met you. At Pat Hall’s dance class. Pat is a great teacher and community builder, and for nearly 40 years has created weekly rituals to convey Afro-Caribbean culture and Haitian dance. It’s special to be in a very open, non-institutional space that has been maintained for such a long time. It takes a lot of attention and creativity to become a place of joy for so many.
What’s your favorite soundtrack when you’re in a taxi?
I tend to commute by subway or bike, but if I take a taxi, I appreciate the space for reflection and the soundtrack of the city.
Do you agree that a dance floor is more than just a dance floor?
A dance floor is like an art gallery, a place of worship, or a classroom. These spaces still have code and hierarchy. But when expectations build up in our day-to-day lives, they can dull our ability to follow different paths in our minds and other parts of our bodies.
Do you ever leave NY? If yes, where are you going?
New York is a city built on financial accumulation and is almost inhabitable for those who do not have access to those resources. Yet it’s also a haven for outsiders and refugees of all kinds. Because anyone can call themselves a New Yorker. One of the things I love about this place is that it’s a crossroads with a certain connection to the rest of the world.
By birth and sheer luck, I have family in Europe and Latin America, especially France and Brazil. I’m here.
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