As former [redacted] employee, that HBO story almost made me commit a crime. Also, it’s no coincidence you see black people at museums in DC considering that all museums are free here and do constant community events! If you build it, people will come!
Great writing. The HBO/Max thing is so ridiculously funny, especially considering how the thing started with one person's need for relevance, it seems.
The commentary from Black people around Grounded In The Stars has perplexed me, but sadly, I'm not too surprised. It seems that no matter how strongly we want to be seen and left to "be ourselves" in all manner of public life, there's always a voice whispering with a hint of respectability politics, "Ok, you go ahead and be Black...but not too Black". Be Black, but just not "regular" Black (whatever that is). That's what I'm getting from a lot of the commentary. The woman depicted is just too much of a regular, everyday person taking up space. She's not a celebrity and doesn't look like someone's idea of a "successful" Black woman. That sculpture would have been boring as hell, in my eyes.
On the other hand, haven't we been trying to be seen and accepted just as a regular people like anyone else? It's the catch-22 of being Black here (and elsewhere) because no matter what we do, there's always going to be someone who thinks we're not even human. I, for one, welcome Price's depictions of everyday-looking Black people existing in space and just being regular human beings. It's kind of sad seeing the negative reactions to this piece, but with some of the roadblocks you mention, like the studio-gallery-museum pipeline, the cost of access and devaluing of arts education in schools, it's almost inevitable.
People are entitled to their opinions about art and I'm glad that the placement of Price's work in the most most diverse public spaces in the country is sparking conversation, at the very least.
Thanks Tim! Respectability politics is it exactly! I think social media has warped people’s brains on what regular people even look like anyone. Everyone is performing for others and the beauty standards have gotten insane.
As former [redacted] employee, that HBO story almost made me commit a crime. Also, it’s no coincidence you see black people at museums in DC considering that all museums are free here and do constant community events! If you build it, people will come!
So true re: free museum admission in DC. I hadn't thought of that.
Great writing. The HBO/Max thing is so ridiculously funny, especially considering how the thing started with one person's need for relevance, it seems.
The commentary from Black people around Grounded In The Stars has perplexed me, but sadly, I'm not too surprised. It seems that no matter how strongly we want to be seen and left to "be ourselves" in all manner of public life, there's always a voice whispering with a hint of respectability politics, "Ok, you go ahead and be Black...but not too Black". Be Black, but just not "regular" Black (whatever that is). That's what I'm getting from a lot of the commentary. The woman depicted is just too much of a regular, everyday person taking up space. She's not a celebrity and doesn't look like someone's idea of a "successful" Black woman. That sculpture would have been boring as hell, in my eyes.
On the other hand, haven't we been trying to be seen and accepted just as a regular people like anyone else? It's the catch-22 of being Black here (and elsewhere) because no matter what we do, there's always going to be someone who thinks we're not even human. I, for one, welcome Price's depictions of everyday-looking Black people existing in space and just being regular human beings. It's kind of sad seeing the negative reactions to this piece, but with some of the roadblocks you mention, like the studio-gallery-museum pipeline, the cost of access and devaluing of arts education in schools, it's almost inevitable.
People are entitled to their opinions about art and I'm glad that the placement of Price's work in the most most diverse public spaces in the country is sparking conversation, at the very least.
Thanks Tim! Respectability politics is it exactly! I think social media has warped people’s brains on what regular people even look like anyone. Everyone is performing for others and the beauty standards have gotten insane.