Pictured in this photograph (sic) is the Scow House that once stood at the shoreline of Gwa’yas’dams (Gilford Island). The Gukwdzi (Big House) that holds the treasure of the Yakala (Undersea Kingdom), it is beautifully illustrated with the Sea Monster across the front. It represents who we are and where we come from: it is […]
In my book Vladimir’s Night, the artist Maxim Komar-Myshkin writes a history of Russia as a series of jokes. In the joke “1936 – Persecutions by Stalin,” a Jewish doctor sentenced to death prays for a miracle – and his prayer is answered: “At that very instant an elephant with two trunks was born in […]
On October 29, 1949, the Gen. Howze pulled into New York Harbor with 1,352 refugees on board. I was one of them. I settled down in Williamsburg, the poorest part of Brooklyn, but that was the luckiest day of my life.
[David Tudor premieres John Cage’s 4’33” , Maverick Concert Hall, Woodstock, New York.]
This is the date that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus for white passengers. I grew up in a racist environment of family, friends, and culture in Houston TX, never feeling right about it. So the action of Rosa Parks resonated strongly with me and changed my world.
We have chosen this image (sic) and historical date because of the significance of this moment, of women’s unity, and protest in our practice. We as an all-black-woman collective are responding to the erasure of black women who have had the strength to bear the burden of fighting for equal rights in South African history.
The images on these pages (sic) refer to the most important days in my career as an artist. August 29, 1959, is the date of HH 1. About two months later, I burned two bicycle tires. Together, they persuaded me to take art seriously and spend the rest of my life in its pursuit.
In 1965, a troupe of architects, designers, poets, artists, and philosophers made a journey from Cape Horn to Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia. Leaving out a large area of the continent to the north, it made us wonder what it meant to be American.
