Black Art Matters: The Great Barrington Project

Hi Everyone!

 

I'm Delano, a Brooklyn writer, poet, artist and curator ( IG@theodorehuxtable ). Much of my work is related to the shadow spaces of Black identity and how Black people navigate the in-between.

 

I'm raising money for my latest & most ambitious art/discussion piece, The Great Barrington Project: Unbleaching the Souls of Black Folk. It's a multi city art experience that will ask us to explore how Black people are seen (and not seen) and interpreted.

 

In each city, a table and two chairs will be set up over a three day period in a public ( ideally outdoors ) space, with a banner describing the project and it purpose. People who identify as Black will be invited to fill out a sheet with 2 questions: How do you see yourself? How does the world see you? People who don't identify as Black will be invited to sit in a chair, across from a Black person, silently staring at each other for 15 minutes. I hope the non-Black person will reflect on the ways they see Black people, and I want the Black person to think and feel what it means to be seen. There will be a rotating group of Black volunteers to sit in the chair in each city, and I will sometimes be in the chair.

 

The events will be documented by photographers and videographers in each location and there will be a local talk about the event, with both participants and non-participants invited to discuss the ideas and their experiences. Others can follow the series on the blog and/or Instagram, with daily updates. If a participant has given their permission for their answers to the questions to be shared, they will be uploaded.

 

The GB Project is based on W.E.B. Du Bois's concept of "double-consciousness" - the sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness,—an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body. We are constantly aware of how we are seen, analyzed and translated. It's crucial for our survival - putting on a hoodie or going for a jog can have fatal consequences - but it's also emotionally exhausting. Du Bois grew up in the mostly white Massachusetts town of Great Barrington, which is also my hometown. I never read any of his work until I was an adult, afraid of reading my own experiences and having to admit how painful it had been to grow up there. When I finally read the book, there on the first page was my life.

 

Du Bois wrote of giving a white classmate a calling card and having it refused. It was then he realized his existence was seen as a problem. The same thing happened to me. I gave a classmate a letter, telling her of my childlike crush. She looked at it and responded " Thanks but my parents would never let me date a n***er. " And I knew my very being was seen as a problem. This continued through much of my life, along with the idea that if I suppressed my Blackness, I might be accepted and happy. I was attempting what Du Bois writes about as the "bleaching" of my Black soul.

 

The GB Project is about reversing that bleaching, letting go of the idea that Black people must pass respectability muster ( i.e. " act/speak white" ) to gain a respect that is rarely forthcoming. When Black folks traveled North during the Great Migration, they entered a more capitalist world that granted access to those who renounced the indicators of their Blackness. That's why The GB Project is geographically in reverse, thus about reclaiming Blackness and reclaiming what Edouard Glissant calls the "right to opacity."

 

The project will take place in Spring 2022 over a one month period. It will begin in Great Barrington and will end in Goodwater, Alabama, the small rural hometown of my ancestors. Atlanta and Harlem will also be represented, with other cities selected based on research and geography.

 

It's taken a me a long time to find my voice and my purpose, after struggling with addiction ( I'm now almost ten years sober), internalized racism and the lingering effects of trauma. 4 years ago, I returned to school after a very long hiatus and there I finally found my authentic voice through art and writing. Since then I've...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured in Humans of New York https://www.instagram.com/p/CWoXuRUrH87/

 

Performed in Gabrielle Senza's art piece in/Visibility at the International Human Rights Art Festival https://www.ihraf.org/festival

 

I've been completely overwhelmed ( in a great way ) and inspired by the thousands of messages and emails from people who have connected to me telling of my experiences with race, trauma, otherness and addiction, It's often been scary to reveal things I'd never talked about, but it's also been a huge relief. My authentic self is out in the world and I feel seen, genuinely seen, for the first time in my life. I'm deeply committed to creating art that might help others relate and connect to their own true selves. Though my work is often about the Black experience, I think when we open our hearts and minds to see each other, we all gain from the experience as individuals and as a world. I hope that this project might contribute to that.

 

I know The GB Project is very ambitious, but I'm also extremely passionate about bringing it to life. I also know I can't do this alone. I have a network of friends, artists, writers and mentors who have committed to helping me make this a reality.

 

An obvious inspiration for me is Marina Abramovic's The Artist is Present performance,

which I was fortunate to see at MoMA. The simple act of two people sitting across from each other and just seeing, so rare today, was emotional for everyone - those participating and those watching. I've often thought how different that performance might have been were she not a White cisgender woman. I'm definitely not diminishing the performance - it was brilliant - but any art can and should be reinterpreted at different times. I've also been influenced by the performance artists Pope L., Dread Scott, Adrian Piper and Tilda Swinton, among many others. My long time mindfulness practice has also helped me in thinking about seeing others without bringing past or future into the moment.

 

This project description will most definitely evolve over the next three months of planning and exploration. It will grow, expand, and add new and richer layers and dimensions through research, reflection and conversations. I'm excited about this journey of discovery, which will all be documented on the blog and Instagram.

 

The money raised will help with graphics work, travel expenses, research ( including a research visit to Washington D.C.) , and a small stipend for me while creating this. I also don't want to come into a community, create an art event, and leave without contributing to that community. I will be donating money to local civil rights/social justice/ mutual aid programs in each city. These donations will also be documented for transparency.

 

Any donation amount helps, even 5$! If you can't donate to the Gofundme, please consider sharing the link and also please try to take the time to really see the people you encounter today.

 

If you have any questions or comments you can message me on Instagram or Facebook.

Thank you for reading this far!

 

XO

 

G. Delano Burrowes