Instructions
1. See the Dark Laboratory virtual exhibition “I’m New Here: Black and Indigenous Media Ecologies” curated by Tao Leigh Goffe and Tatiana Esh.
*Click on the photographs to see the individual artist’s work and their explanations.*
2. Read the curator’s statement by Tao Leigh Goffe (pages 174-181)
3. Choose ONE prompt. Post your answer in the comment section down below. 200-word minimum. The deadline is 5/4 before the class.
OPTION ONE
Pick ONE of the artists showcased in the exhibition and analytically connect his/her/their work (and explanations) with ONE of these quotes from Tao Leigh Goffe’s curator statement.
a. The photographers featured in this exhibition present a vision of Black and Indigenous shared ecologies that hinges on the speculative capacity to imagine these entangled and distinct histories of struggle and survival. Beyond the narrative of racial suffering as totalizing, the Dark Laboratory is a space where campfire stories, fables, ancestral myths, and legends come alive at night.
b. Together members of the collective imagine and are inspired by the clandestine and fugitive itineraries of Native and Black people across the Americas of refusal. We understand what blooms at night and what needs the dark to grow.
c. We listen for echoes of this Afro-Indigenous dialogue in the landscapes and seascapes of the Americas. Native presence for thousands of years across the Americas is often overlooked or taken as a given and distant past. The dialogue of call-and-response that we imagine between Black people, forcibly transported here, and Indigenous people is taking place all at once in the future, present, and past. Since at least the sixteenth century, the Black Native dialogue has existed over generations, and it is one of shared bloodlines and extended kin.
OPTION TWO
Respectfully interact with ONE of your classmates’ responses. Do you agree with their arguments and interpretations? Do you disagree? What other observations about the exhibition and/or the curator’s statement do you want to bring into the discussion?
“We wish to suggest that centering the entanglement of the dispossession of Native sovereignty and African enslavement as the bedrock of any American history disrupts the myth that the United States is a nation of immigrants” (176). The picture by Allison Arteaga describes how enslaved African Americans were forced to bring gold and silver, but they did not see any fruits yet. The fruits came from queña, the huayno, and the landó, but the enslaved African Americans weren’t doing well, so they had to remember the happy times, such as laughing and their mother’s love. For something to be beautiful, it has to be painful such as placing the past.
In the ‘Free the Land’: ‘Landscape Photography as Decolonial Praxis by Steve Nuñez, we are able to visualize the beauty of nature in his landscape photos. Yet what I find most interesting about these photos is that they “were captured in locations accessed while trespassing or were mediated through interactions with so-called ‘law enforcement officers’.” This directly connects to the first quote from Tao Leigh Goffe’s curator statement, as you can see the beauty that has managed to survive despite the many social and environmental issues we currently face. I feel as though Nuñez truly captures the beauty of the land in a manner that feels as though it is too good to be true. When reading the last sentence within the quote, “Beyond the narrative of racial suffering as totalizing, the Dark Laboratory is a space where campfire stories, fables, ancestral myths, and legends come alive at night”, I immediately thought of his work and how magical it all looked. The images immediately make you wonder where these stunning locations are, and then you find out they’re areas that are becoming private property and are not easily accessible, although they should be. His photography shines a light on what our land could, and should, look like, but don’t due to it being bought out.
Allison Arteaga is a Peruvian-American photographer who’s work highlights “true liberation for the oppressed, specifically in Peru and Latin America.” The quote, “Native presence for thousands of years across the Americas is often overlooked or taken as a given and distant past. The dialogue of call-and-response that we imagine between Black people, forcibly transported here, and Indigenous people is taking place all at once in the future, present, and past.” This quote connects to her photograph of locals at the planetarium gathering together. She writes in her description, “Not only in the highlands but in the lower hills, not in the limelight but in the forgotten brush and the bits of land left for us to partition, we come to clarity.” She’s highlighting that Indigneous communities in Peru have been forgotten about and as Tao Leigh Goffe states that they are viewed as in the past but their communities and problems still exist and will continue to do so. Another part of Goffe’s quote is, “Since at least the sixteenth century, the Black Native dialogue has existed over generations, and it is one of shared bloodlines and extended kin.” In my community specifically in Peru called Chorrillos, my uncle has told me so many stories of Afro-Indigneous communities that have lived there and the wars and fight for liberation that occurred.
Together with members of the collective imagine and are inspired by the clandestine and fugitive itineraries of Native and Black people across the Americas of refusal. We understand what blooms at night and what needs the dark to grow. The art created by Steve Nuñez really speaks to this quote by photographing what the environment in the community looks like. Moreover, with demonstrates different times of the day and shows the relationship to nature. Also, in relationship with these communities and the way they interact with their live environment we see how there’s added value and significance to it.
In choosing Alision Artegas art form I was able to understand her internal narrative and sturggle towards her community. Her historial narrative has been down played by other sociopolitcal movements, presenting a bigger issues at large for this community. In presenting a narratives where both idigenous and black communites can represent their story and their culture it mends a birdge. For instance, “Together members of the collective imagine and are inspired by the clandestine and fugitive itineraries of Native and Black people across the Americas of refusal. We understand what blooms at night and what needs the dark to grow.”Setting fourth ideas, representations and different narratives can push fourth a stronger understanding of communites that have not been allowed to own or engage with their culture. Giving an outlet that engages in a global politcal perspective gives new ideas and forms of presentations.
I am so mesmerized by these photographs, the feelings they evoke and the messaging behind them … they all speak in different ways yet they are all saying we are still here, no one can own us, we are ethereal, and transcendent, nonlinear, undefinable … They represent the ecology, our ancestry, the history, the future all in each image all at once I was incredibly inspired and felt very connected and in-synch with the works as I went through each of the artists’ galleries, I definitely heard the echoes. Specifically Steve Nuñez exposition, really resonated with me, his photographed landscapes capture the essence the magic that cannot be owned, a thing that can not be extracted for capital as I imagine was the spirit of so many of our Black and Indigenous ancestors as they were forced out of their native ecologies – the thing that they had and have passed on can never be captured and capitalized. These images, most taken near places where I have visited yet I never once have thought on how U.S. National Parks do represent so much of the senseless and violent eviction of its native peoples, just to sit there mostly inaccessible to any people, the selfishness of “owning” is what keeps popping up for me versus the freedom of co-existence, of caring an protecting our ecology our surroundings our family. I really appreciate the artists process of taking the photographs from “forbidden” locations which have no access to the public, the colonial logic defiance is what has kept our beautiful history and ancestry alive, its the reason this serves as meditation on survivance and that I can connect to it through these images, its what ensures our Black and Indigenous futures. We have seen examples of this all through this unit with the Quechua, The Zapatistas, The Tempe all these indigenous people in defense and protection of their land still – this is not a linear construct, it is not a “movement”. It is the shining through of this form of story-telling that moves forward the narrative of our futures.
Drifted away by Melia Delsol and Dora Papp shows a series of pictures where people of color descendants’ figures are reflected through the presentation of natural features as tree leaves. These two artists’ work includes their talent to work with sculptures, madras, natural interconnections, ecological features, and more. Joining their forces, they created a multi-layered work of mourning, memory, and ethnobotany as stated in the website Dark Laboratory. The series of pictures are directly related to the catastrophic hurricane Maria and all the consequences, endearments, and lost lives. All pieces of work show strong connections between humans and the plant work. We all form part of the same planet; therefore, these pieces wanted to express the loss of both the human and the natural environment when hurricane Maria happened. While looking at the pieces of art shown in the website, I can admire all the features of people of color reflected in their faces as well as the features of a leaf. Every line, shade, color, and figures are strongly emphasized to show the connection between both environments, and the way both environments can join to become only one. The meaning of these pieces can also be related to the group of people who suffered from these natural phenomena. Both environments can also be algorithms that could determine who lives and dies as shown in the leaves.
The virtual exhibition curated by Tao Leigh and Tatiana Esh had such great pieces of art that showcased different aspects of black and indigenous. The artist I chose to focus on is Allison Arteaga’s artwork that she showcased. Allison is Peruvian-American and her work focused on the indigenous aspect surrounding Peru and Latin America. Looking at the images taken by Allison and reading what she said has bought me back to think of the indigenous problems we face back at home, in Mexico. Very similar the image depicts the struggles faced in the community and how to survive. For example in her image of the car the last of all, she says “these children of the highlands, the small hills, quencha or Aymara or Achuar, are they not worth of rage and fire?” It is so unfortunate to see that the government still cannot understand that indigenous people are part of the culture, the country as a whole and chooses to view them as separate people from their own. That survival that they are looking for is because their own people don’t recognize them and to survive in a country where you are not even acknowledged till this day after so many years is still a fight to be fought. They will not stop until they get the rights and basic necessities needed.
“We listen for echoes of this Afro-Indigenous dialogue in the landscapes and seascapes of the Americas. Native presence for thousands of years across the Americas is often overlooked or taken as a given and distant past. The dialogue of call-and-response that we imagine between Black people, forcibly transported here, and Indigenous people is taking place all at once in the future, present, and past. Since at least the sixteenth century, the Black Native dialogue has existed over generations, and it is one of shared bloodlines and extended kin.”
Nadia Huggins
I chose to briefly discuss Nadia Huggins photography re-presenting the Caribbean because of pure powerful imagery. I don’t necessarily relate having a relationship with the Sea, in fact I barely know how to swim. But Huggins photographs showcasing the “Vulnerable masculine under water”, are impactful because of the depth of color and how you can see how free these young boys are underwater. Immediately I thought of the film Lemonade by Beyonce, where she loses herself being underwater. And it’s true, being underwater you no longer have to pose for the external world, you can just be with the sea. Huggins amazing images, exactly show us Afro-indigenous dialogues with the seascapes of the Americas. We learn that the sea itself takes on this motherly role, who hugs, embraces young boys who often aren’t given this type of affection in the terrestrial world due to Patriarchy. It’s beautiful to have the privilege to observe these intimate relationships they have with the sea, to see their vulnerability which we often we don’t see because again in the terrestrial world they aren’t allowed to be vulnerable in the first place. Finally, I chose Nadia Huggins work because I would argue it perfectly composes our class discussions in class about decolonizing our mind, by getting rid of the narrative that we as human beings are separate from the eco-systems. And re-learning from African, Indigenous and Afro-Indigenous mindsets that have existed for thousands of years, that in fact we as humans are part of the ecosystem, and we do have intimate relationships with the landscape, with seascapes and with animals, we aren’t above, but rather learning how to live harmonious with mother nature.