Berette S. Macaulay "BIPOC on Colonialism, Nationalism, and [The Harmful Illusion of] White Supremacy"

How incredible to have come to our LAST (for a while anyway) episode of Critical Bounds. Please enjoy this exceptional conversation with Berette S. Macaulay.

We have such gratitude for Berette for engaging in this conversation. We discuss living a multiplicitous life, and the institutional lie that you must focus on One Thing, or be branded a failure. How to interrogate the process and usefulness of critical dialogue. What populations are still being overlooked in the art world? The influence of the Black Portlanders project. Working with artists who are creating work to, “...speak to some of the traumas, but not define ourselves by these traumas.” How institutional racism creates a challenge in even putting together a show that is about Black people. Tokenism in cultural institutions. The invisibility of power. Interrogating terms like “white privilege” and “white supremacy”, to unroot the mythologies of “Whiteness”. And so much more.

Berette S. Macaulay is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and writer from Jamaica and Sierra Leone. Her research and visual arts practice engage themes of belonging, identity-performance, illegibility, love, memory, and mythmaking. 

She is currently the inaugural curatorial fellow at On The Boards Performing Arts Theater in Seattle, has exhibited and published nationally and internationally, receiving recent Artist Grants from the Vermont Studio Center Residency, Shunpike Arts, and 4Culture. Art and writing publications include Feminist Media Histories, UNESCO Courier, Of Note and Museé magazines, and the World Policy Journal. Her curatorial work includes illusive self (2013) at Taller Boricua Gallery, NYC, and Exploring Passages in the Black Diaspora (2020) at Photographic Center NW. 

MFON in Seattle catalogue. Get the print catalog HERE.

Berette was the creator and organizer of the MFON in Seattle (2019/20) program in which she facilitated exhibition partnerships with MFON Women, Frye Art Museum, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, and Photographic Center Northwest, following the legacy work of Adama Delphine Fawundu and Laylah Amatullah Barrayn to feature Black women photographers from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, and North America. 

Berette’s awards include a 2019 Simpson Center Research Cluster Grant as founder of Black Cinema Collective (BCC) where she curates screenings, watch parties, and panel discussions alongside co-programmers Savita Krishnamoorthy and Mateo Ochoa, focusing on African and Afro-Diasporic films. BCC functions as a project of i•ma•gine | e•volve, an interdisciplinary arts incubator she has been tending to since 2010. 

Berette was named a 2019 Ottenberg-Winans Fellow for African Studies (UW), and is the recipient of the 2020 Champion of Seattle Arts (COSA) Award. Berette also serves as the Art Liaison Program Manager at Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington.

Satpreet Kahlon "BIPOC on Colonialism, Nationalism, and [the Harmful Illusion of] White Supremacy"

Tune in to our latest conversation with Satpreet Kahlon, a Punjabi-born, Seattle based artist, organizer, and curator, and the editor of New Archives, a nonprofit arts journal which focuses on art in the Pacific Northwest.

We talk about Satpreet's work at (now-defunct) The Alice Gallery, including her first experience at curating the show "From Which We Rise", and its familial connections. We discuss the vibrations of Place, and Satpreet's experiences living around the US. We touch on institutional tokenism, her work with yəhaw̓ Indigenous Collective, and the issues with the word "decolonization". We side-eye the New York Times, and discuss theories on how some work by BIPOC artists is largely ignored because it isn't easily digestible for hegemonic consumption.

“Towards the Earth”. (ca 2018-2019). Satpreet Kahlon. Image courtesy of the artist.

Satpreet talks about her own artistic practice, the ways she interrogates space, and how her work "...moves against the framework of metal penii", embodying anti-monumentalism. We also learn the influence of Archive, and the words of Saidiya Hartman, and how not all curators are created equal.

Halim A. Flowers "BIPOC on Colonialism, Nationalism, and [the harmful illusion of] White Supremacy"

Tune in to our fantastic conversation with visual artist and formerly incarcerated poet, entrepreneur Halim A. Flowers about growing up in DC, Reaganomics and the myth of the "Superpredator", the importance of education and access beyond Eurocentric knowledge, making space to connect with people as fellow humans, the influence of Jay Z and Basquiat on his work, and how art and culture can change minds and our world.

In 1997, Halim A. Flowers was arrested at the age of 16 and sentenced to two life sentences in the District of Columbia. His experiences were filmed in the Emmy award-winning documentary “Thug Life In DC”.

In 2005, he started his own publishing company SATO Communications, through which he published 11 books.

In 2019, Halim was released from prison after serving 22 years imprisoned. Upon release, Halim began to create visual art in addition to his poetry, writing, and entrepreneurship. He has worked with Kim Kardashian for her documentary “The Justice Project”, done a spoken word performance with Kanye West at his famous Sunday Service, received the Halcyon Arts Lab and Echoing Green fellowships, and spoken at panels at universities and conferences around the country about the impact of the arts and entrepreneurship to correct our criminal injustice system.

In 2020, he signed to be represented by Stella Jones and DTR Modern Galleries for his visual art practice.

Michelle Kumata "BIPOC on Colonialism, Nationalism, and [the harmful illusion of] White Supremacy"

Head over to Soundcloud to hear our latest episode with artist Michelle Kumata. Michelle Kumata (she, her), is a 3.5 generation Japanese American artist and Seattle native with a BFA in Illustration from The School of Visual Arts in New York, NY. She worked as a graphic artist at The Seattle Times for over a decade and then served as Exhibit Director at Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience for 12 years. Michelle is influenced by heritage, identity and legacy. She is currently exploring the Japanese diaspora in the U.S. and Brazil through oral histories and visual storytelling. See more of Michelle’s work at michellekumata.com or follow her on Instagram @michellekumata.

In this episode from our series with BIPOC artists on Colonialism, Nationalism, and the harmful illusion of White Supremacy, we talk about Kumata’s time at Wing Luke Museum, her project on the Japanese Diaspora in the US and Brazil.

“Song For Generations”. (2019). Michelle Kumata, acrylic on canvas, 16' x 8'

We also get a deep dive into Kumata’s work "Song For Generations", and how it deals with the Internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Kumata emphasizes the importance of listening to those from historically marginalized communities and really processing what is happening right now, then taking action as individuals to effect positive change. Plus, shoutouts to Wa Na Wari, and founders Elisheba Johnson and Inye Wokoma, as well as artists Roger Shimomura, Erin Shigaki, Louie Gong, and a book recommendation for everyone who is interested in learning more about Bellevue, Washington’s internment of Japanese-American citizens during WWII: Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community by David A. Neiwert.

Afi Ese on "BIPOC on Colonialism, Nationalism, and [the harmful illusion of] White Supremacy"

Head over to Soundcloud to hear our conversation with African American contemporary realist, and figurative conceptual artist Afi Ese about using art to tell stories, group economics as a form of activism in marginalized groups, her former experience as a forensic psychologist and how we use research about inequity in place of action against inequity in our justice system (and many other places), a different way to look at reparations, the inherent problem with the term "BIPOC", Ese's thoughts on 2020 for art and artists, and how we can have more honest conversations across differences.

“Afi Ese is an African American contemporary realism and figurative conceptual artist living in Houston, Texas with roots in Togo and Mali. The artworks of Afi Ese represent and venerate the rich history of the West African diaspora with an emphasis on generational trauma and triumph in Black America. As a child of the diaspora, her paintings are conceptualized narratives of the African plight through the eyes of a self-aware Black American. She combines and re-imagines historical events and attributes specific to the Black American experience. In doing so, she gets to shine a spotlight on the beauty and resilience of her community by using the gifts and talents given by her ancestors. She recognizes the importance of positive black images in daily life and uses her work to help direct the Black narrative and experience in an honest and transparent fashion. Afi wants each piece to leave the viewer feeling culturally empowered, especially the youth. She tries to embed bold fresh images in the minds of viewers and hopes to replace some of the mis-education and misleading imagery that plagues her community.”

Alexis L. Silva on "BIPOC on Colonialism, Nationalism, and [the harmful illusion of] White Supremacy"

At last, our conversation with artist writer, and curator Alexis L. Silva is available for your listening pleasure! We talk about finding your community in the art world, redefining success in a non-colonial context, the value of community museums (like the Wing Luke Museum, where he works), being 2nd generation, and a Person of Color in the art world, why we should be building coalitions now, more than ever, and much more.

“Alexis L. Silva is a Seattle based Hispanic Latino artist, writer, and curator who works through the means of performance, installation, and photography. Inspired by the idea of emotion transforming into something tangible and the overall human narrative, he creates his work by constructing thoughtful and immersive experiences that provoke emotive and visual poeticism. 

Born from immigrant parents under the heat of the Las Vegas sun, Alexis began working with photography at the age of 10. Enamored by the idea of capturing time in a box, he continued to pursue his interest in photography and graduated from Las Vegas Academy of the Arts with a focus in Photography. He went on to receive his BFA from Cornish College of the Arts with a focus in Performance, Installation, and Photography. His current works are a collection of poems and found images that tell his family's immigration story. His love for storytelling and narrative fuels his practice where he explores ideas of queerness, race, and the overall human experience.”