Author: dig

X

dig

Malcolm X directed by Spike Lee, released November 18, 1992.

Related (I think) —

Vaughn Spann, AlmineRech; David Castillo.

Marked man (Mitchell), 2019. Mixed media on wooden panel. 60 x 48 inches. Acquired by Pérez Art Museum Miami.

The X is a notable and instantly recognizable letter and symbol. Spann described his own experience being stop and frisked by the police—the way his body became an X as it occurred. The X is also a target, a place to aim, to focus your attention. The series provides plenty of room for the viewer to project their own interpretations as well, given the X’s broad historical implications and associations. The first time I encountered Marked Man (Mitchell) (2019), I related it all to Spann’s personal anecdote, noting the connection between his and where my own mind took me upon encountering this work. The two are separate but the link is clear—the broader experience, the commentary on contemporary life—it comes alive for anyone paying attention to the intricacies of modern Black life. The viewer is to come forward prepared to bring with them their own world and unique purview. Spann’s paintings are not merely a reflection of his own but instead an invitation to share yours. The works function as a catalyst, allowing the viewer imaginative freedom.

Smoke Signals, September 03 — October 10, 2020. AlmineRech, Brussels. Press Release, text by Maritza Lacayo.

claimed for living, for love and trouble

dig
AG2020_1980664a AG2020_1980688a1 AG2020_1980741a

claimed for living, for love and trouble

A work composed of text, design, and images, assembled to configure a place of everyday Miami textures, rendered to hold an apt imaginary in support of the ranges within Black social life. 

Here is a place claimed for the purpose of living, fashioned to engender love, fortified to protect its inhabitants and to withstand the spectres of trouble.

We live here. 

We live informed by the poetics of immigrant culture, Caribbean tendencies, Black diasporic experience, and strengthened by the forcefulness of radical traditions that prepared us to imagine, and to claim the conditions we need to live with dignity.

Seen from the corner of NE 2 Avenue and 40 Street.

Billboard layout.

Untitled (Thrives in full sun)

dig
via The Sunny Project
via @thesunnyprjct

I grew up here. This is a formative place, where I learned how to be, to imagine, and even how to cut a figure. I am grateful for all I was given, especially the encouragement to embrace the possible. I was placed in ideal conditions, in a bright and favorable position, that I shared with my siblings.

I blossomed. I became who I am, grounded and raised in a tended cultural plot. I was afforded a southeasterly view, of the world!? We could not help it–we have lived in other places, have known other conditions, have learned to participate in the ecosystem that we are in, and always remembered what dreams are for.

Here still works for me. It is a place of imaginings and comfort. It cultivates warm memories, and unfurled reflections. I prefer to thrive in full sun.

Related:

Balla Et Ses Balladins ?– Objectif Perfection, Editions Syliphone Conakry, 1980.

Paulette, la confiance est un habit difficile à porter.

LP back cover.