Colored Criticism

A fresh take on art.

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The Aug Edit: On Vacation!

Friends, it’s been a minute!

Our newsletter has been on break this summer. While there have been arts happenings of note, there have also been tectonic shifts that absorbed a lot of everyone’s energy. We put our communications on hold knowing that there were other rapid-response messages going out from our activist and journalist partners. You can only read so many emails a day, right?

Yes, we all need a vacation. I get the feeling that everyone is sneaking away based on the out of office messages and Instagram feeds from this month. Folks are taking some time off, whether it’s a staycation, long weekend, or a long-overdue trip abroad. Borders are open, vaccines are flowing, and tickets are booked. This little respite is a luxury, but one that we’re finding a way to include.

As we head into the long weekend, I have a few suggestions if you are looking for a vacation read. All of these novels have protagonists I love and big arts energy!

Yours in summer sun,
Tiffany

Required Reading

The Mar Edit: More Than A Party!

Image Credit: We started the Carnival Queens project in 2017, the 50th anniversary of the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn. Although we love working with institutions, we adore the chance to talk with our friends at Pagwah Mas and other bands. See you on the Parkway!

Hi friend,

True story: art is about people! 

Carnival season is unfolding in the Americas – from the Caribbean to New Orleans (hey Mardi Gras!) But it’s more than just a party. Carnival culture shows how mutual aid has sustained people of color.

Mutual aid is a crucial path for groups locked out of mainstream power and participation. These communities have banded together to create something out of nothing – isn’t that the definition of art? There’s a natural overlap with different women’s organizations – for example the sororities of the Divine Nine, or social clubs based on hometowns and heritage. 

Dr. Tyesha Maddox has researched mutual aid societies of Caribbean immigrants in the United States back to the 1900s. The West Indian Day Parade ties the legacy of early Black migration to our current culture. This video explainer gives a broad view of how Asian American, Black, Chicano, and LGBTQ+ communities have leveraged mutual aid to build resilient networks. 

And our documentary project, Carnival Queens, is screening this month online for Women’s History Month. We’re excited to share the story of Black immigrant women gathering, celebrating, and thriving. Along with the Baby Dolls of New Orleans’ Carnival, women artists shine at the intersection of creativity and community.

Yours in creative solidarity,
Tiffany.

Required Reading

The Feb Edit: Black Mom Magic

Image Credit: Faith Ringgold (right) and Michele Wallace (middle) at Art Workers Coalition Protest, Whitney Museum, 1971. Digital C-print. Copyright of Jan van Raay, Portland, OR.

Hi friend,

February is wrapping up, but it’s always time for Black History! I’ve been reading Anna Malaika Tubbs’ history “The Three Mothers” this month. Her book braids together the legacies of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin. Her hot take? It’s all about the Black moms.

Lifting up Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little, Tubbs sets the stage for the political engagement of their sons. Her original scholarship claps back on stereotypes of Black families as apathetic at best and criminal at worst. Their strategic parenting nurtured the vision that we call the modern Civil Rights Movement. It’s a stark reminder that Black women have consistently overdelivered for the United States.

Those blockbuster mothers set me to thinking about Faith Ringgold and Emma Amos. These cool art moms have been celebrated in recent retrospectives. “Faith Ringgold: American People” and “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey” display their shared focus on bodies in active, affirming motion. As I read more about both of these artists, their imprint on following generations is as striking as their work. Amos passed away just before her retrospective opened, but the love for her is evident in the essays accompanying the show.

Which is all to say, there are so many facets to our shared history. Here’s to Black heroines, whether we find them In the library, gallery, or real life!

Looking forward,
Tiffany.

“Faith Ringgold: American People” is at The New Museum, NY through June 2022. “Emma Amos: Color Odyssey” is archived online at The Georgia Museum of Art, GA.

Required Reading

5+1 Birthday Timeline

2015

Colored Criticism launches as a home for people of color to be seen and heard in the arts.

[Video] Release of Digital Natives, the first episode in our signature series on YouTube. Our coverage of Indigenous art is filmed on location at Metropolitan Museum of Art.

[Event] Release of Free Blacks, the next episode of our signature series, with a conversation around African diasporic dance at Brooklyn Community Foundation.

[Video] Release of Museum of Impact episode, first media partnership.

2016-2018

Colored Criticism becomes a fiscally sponsored project of New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA.)

[presidential election]

[Video] Release of Colored Criticism trailer to celebrate the first season of our signature series.

[Media] Principal photography begins on Carnival Queens, our first documentary. The long-form project explores Caribbean cultural heritage and art through the West Indian Day Parade.

2019

Event] First Work-in-Progress screening of Carnival Queens at Guild Hall, along with panel discussion on Caribbean history.

[Video] Whitney Biennial episode launches on YouTube, the last production before the pandemic.

[Event] First events held for college students at Multicultural Resource Center and Mead Art Museum, Amherst.

2020

[Pandemic]

[Event] Black History Month program at Grace Church White Plains is our first faith-based partnership, and last event before “NY State on Pause” closes non-essential businesses.

5 year birthday of Colored Criticism. No celebration.

[Media] Launch of Art Off Pause, our livestream conversation series in response to the disruption of the pandemic.

[presidential election]

2021

5+1 Birthday! Celebrating five years of Colored Criticism plus pandemic!

Colored Criticism welcomes new Board members.

[Event] Discussion with Middle East Librarians Association program links academics on multiple continents.

[Media] Launch of new Colored Criticism website!

→ Next: a bright future!

We’ve got big dreams for our future.

This year, Colored Criticism is celebrating our 5+1 Birthday! That means that we’ve worked through five years and one pandemic to center people of color in the arts.

Last year was not celebratory for obvious reasons (COVID-19, we’re looking at you!) So this year, we’re looking back and dreaming forward.

From now until Thanksgiving, we’ll be revisiting and sharing some of our favorite highlights of the past 5+1 years, and asking for your support as we grow!

To kick off our celebration, here’s a timeline of our progression over our first six years.

Yours in 5+1 birthday fun,
Tiffany.

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Pride In Many Colors

Summer is finally in the streets. With the solstice behind us and restrictions lifting, I’m so glad that we can gather again. It seemed like we might not make it to another season of celebration, but we’re here for Juneteenth and Pride. From city streets to county fairs, our communities are coming alive, with parties open to all.

One of the brightest, biggest celebrations in New York has to be Pride, along with the Puerto Rican Day Parade and West Indian Day Parade. In our city, we’re still combining digital and in-person parties as we recalibrate post-pandemic. Whatever your speed, there’s a way to honor our LGBTQ+ friends and family whether you’re on a float, hosting a cozy kickback, or digging into some critical theory (and yes, podcasts count!)

Here are my picks for Pride online. Full disclosure, all of these artists and curators are Colored Criticism friends:

  • Close reads: Lambda-award winning poet and performance artist Rosamond King does not mince words. Her latest collection “All the Rage” channels the righteous anger and unflinching hopes of living in America right now. Her incandescent, pointed and playful voice is always in style. Enjoy the book launch at Rutgers here.
  • The kids are more than all right: APA Out Loud brings us young spoken word artists Jireh Deng, Lauren Bullock, and Caitlyn Clark in virtual performance. I’m looking forward to more from their strong spirits and thoughtful reflections. Watch their work here, directed by Alberto Morales of Human Rights Campaign.
  • Teach it like you preach it: Professor and scholar Bimbola Akinbola redefines diaspora through her Queering Belonging mini-series. Her advocacy reminds us that “belonging is continuous work” and not a rigid legacy. Explore the dimensions of Nigerian diaspora artists via Northwestern University online.
  • It’s lit: Kevin Seaman illuminates the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco this weekend. Their public art commission draws from the iconography of the Transgender, Lesbian Labrys, and Leather flags this month. If you can’t visit in person (like me), check out this supercut set to Planningtorock’s Transome.

Image Credit: Meg Emiko brings their candy-colored affirmations to the APA Out Loud campaign. Meg shares “I had spent so many years trying to push the two most important parts of my identity aside, that I knew I wanted to create a platform and safe space for other AAPI and LGBTQIA+ folks so they could feel represented in some way.”

This Is Nothing New

We stand in active support of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities as we finish May. Our network is full of artists, activists, and advocates working in the anti-racist tradition. Artist Betty Yu and her Chinatown Arts Brigade collaborators were recently featured in the New York Times arts section. (Although the title is misleading – this work is not new for them!) You can learn more about CAB in this PBS segment, or revisit our ArtOffPause conversation last year. And there are so many AAPI stories still to be told and celebrated – I always enjoy the latest offerings from Asian American Writers Workshop. Their Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities project feels super comforting right now, and they have more upcoming events on deck.

This month is designated to celebrate AAPI culture, but is overshadowed by an increase in hate crimes. These communities deserve safety and respect, as all of our nation does. In particular, we recognize the still-fresh trauma of those who have lost their elders to violence in Atlanta, Indianapolis, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Extra credit: work on equity with donation-based training tools for your community or organization via educator Jaime Jin Lewis.

Yours in spring celebration, 

Tiffany.

Image Credit: Sue Jeong Ka used “ID Shop, 2014-2018” as an intervention for immigrant youth without identification. Via the artist: “ID Shop operated as an artist liaison between queer homeless immigrant youths and art institutions to help them apply for IDs issued by the state government.” Being without papers is precarious in a world where documentation means access to services, education, and financial resources. Sue worked both conceptually and practically with this mobile citizenship pathway. Artists are often intervening between their people and the state.

Coming Soon!

Our #ArtOffPause artists, activists, and curators have been busy! Here are some things to look forward to:

  • Kevin Seaman is offering queer arts community and workshops through Diamond Wave. More on their Summer series here!
  • Tammy Johnson launched Creatives in Place, a listening project on 22 artists rooted in the Bay Area. There’s plenty of great art, work. and insights online.
  • Smith Museum College of Art (SCMA) unveils “Amanda Williams: An Imposing Number of Times” across campus through 2022.