put your money where your mouth is : Exploring emerging artists
Arriving at the final blog of the series has allowed us to reflect on our discussions of cultural preservation and practices that we’ve encouraged over the past few weeks. Many of these conversations involved taking action in your own community, or even seeking out local artists and their work. Although, in continuously urging others to take part, we realized - how could we invoke a call-to-action without acting ourselves?
This week, it felt only right to focus on two artists that we admire. These two individuals have shaped our personal understanding of art and represent of Black culture in very unique respects. They are the future of art, they are part of our history.
AMARI ARRINDELL, 22-year old photographer from Springfield, Illinois and graduating senior at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.
Moving to St. Louis, Missouri at a young age, Amari Amari discovered his love for photography after seeing the space and platform it provided for self-expression and personal growth. After initially finding it difficult to connect to his new community, and even classmates, both of which were primarily White, Amari decided to devote his time to creating images. After making the moon his first subject, Amari grasped the potential of his work and gift. “If I was taking pictures of the moon, imagine how far I could go”, he told me.
Amari began developing his photography skills during a crucial time period for Black individuals in the United States. Living through one of the moments that began the Black Lives Matter Movement, the passing of Michael Brown, propelled his mission and reasoning behind his work. What began as a hobby transformed into a healing tool not only for Amari, but for his viewers alike. Photography allowed him to be an active participant, watching his everyday experiences and moments become part of the social influence. Despite being very vocal in high school surrounding issues about social justice, racism, and police brutality, he found that there were limitations to words and their ability to spread messages. Amari realized that if he could see an image and understand the message just by the elements within it, images could have unlimited potential towards changing people’s perceptions and even hearts. Feeling such passion and vision for his art created a sense of responsibility to share stories and histories. It taught him that perspective is extremely valuable.
As we spoke about the power of imagery, Amari reminded me of the popular image by Sarahbeth Maney of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson during her confirmation hearings, an image that inspires him. “This image was made by a Black female photojournalist… if she was not there, this image would not exist.” Amari emphasized the sophistication and depth in the everyday Black experiences.
What others may have seen as a purely joyous moment, Amari saw a stepping stone for Black representation. The awe and spirit of the young woman sitting behind Judge Jackson was something that not all photographers could capture. “Part of her lived experiences allowed her to create a picture of a young Black person looking up to an amazing Black role model”, Amari explained. This aligned precisely with what he felt was unique about Black art, and photography in particular. The ability to illustrate Black individuals respectfully, accurately, and intimately is a rare, and often undervalued.
Throughout our conversation, I noticed that Amari emphasized different methodologies towards contributing to cultural preservation. The messages his work conveyed were only the first piece of the practice which created the perfect picture.
“I want to really emphasize that I make pictures, I do not take them”, he explained.
Amari felt that the language in regards to photography must be evaluated. Violent words like ‘shoot’, ‘take’, and ‘capture’ are often associated with photographing individuals, but this creates an unsafe space for those individuals who are often targeted in society, such as Black men or women. Seeing that I had never considered this idea, Amari exposed me to the weight and leverage that language holds. When we shift our respective language towards what it means to illustrate the identities of undervalued groups, we shift the way the groups themselves are seen. In building a platform for such identities to be heard and seen, Amari expressed the equal importance of ensuring a mutual relationship between the subject and himself. Whether through imagery, or donating the profit of his prints to a specific cause, he explained his efforts to always reciprocate the love and support he seeks through other individuals, or subjects. Amari explained that many of the individuals he makes images of are often Black individuals, meaning that he must ensure every aspect of his practice encompasses space to portray anyone.
Amari is currently very interested in Black motherhood and highlighting Black maternal experiences. At the beginning of the year, Amari took an image of billionaire and entrepreneur, Rihanna, that blew up. Soon after, Rihanna announced that she was expecting her first child with artist, A$AP Rocky. “When it blew up, I realized that I wanted people to see the image as a point to which Black maternal women are treated”, he said. As news spread of the celebrity being pregnant, she received a lot of praise and love that Black maternal women do not usually receive. In fact, due to being undervalued, Black maternal women in the United States are 3 to 4 times more likely to pass away during childbirth than White maternal women. Amari highlighted the fact that we often treat celebrities, people we don’t know, with great respect, but we fail to treat Black women in our own communities or lives with the same respect. Through his work, he explained that he seeks to highlight those voices within the Black community that are typically undervalued.
“I didn’t grow up with images of Black people, aside from family, in my orbit. So, when I first saw images of Black individuals in a respectful and honest way, I truly understood what photography and documentation were. It’s powerful, and I remember that feeling in a very vivid way. [Black photography] allows people to feel like they belong, and like they are part of a larger narrative than their own.” There is a reciprocal nature in the relationship of art to Black artists.
In transforming everyday experiences into messages, Amari’s work is the future of photography and the culture. With every image, he protects and preserves Blackness.
JETTA STRAYHORN (they/he/she), 19-year old writer, musician, and actor from Atlanta, Georgia and rising sophomore at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Growing up in Atlanta, Jetta was always surrounded by Black culture. Their family had lived in Atlanta for generations, so blackness was synonymous with home for Jetta. Along with this early entrenchment in Blackness, Jetta was exposed to various forms of art.
As a child, Jetta and her two siblings were introduced to music while still in the womb. Their mother sang a unique song to each of her children and continued this while they were young. Jetta’s mom really allowed her children to grow up in a space where art and music engulfed their lives. Yet, Jetta said that this exposure never felt pressuring; rather, it felt as though it were a part of his and his sibling’s DNA.
“Black art has been most of what I’ve known all of my life. There's no reality that I don't associate art immediately with a Black person, with Black people, or with Black culture. Not even just with Black culture but with Black DNA. Everything that I know about art has been completely intertwined with the black identity, and I want to credit that to growing up in a space like the Black Mecca.”
In addition to her passion for music, Jetta also loves writing and acting. Writing is the art form that allowed Jetta to grow the most as a person. Literature, and poetry specifically, allowed them to create an avenue to express their thoughts and opinions on the world around them. Learning to create art that was able to express his sociopolitical opinions was one of the biggest components of Jetta becoming the person that he is today. It allowed him to “wake up and realize who [they] were and what being that person means to the world.” Being able to create art had an enormous impact on Jetta, but so did the intake of Black art. The opportunity to study Black history and feminist literature and being introduced to people like Toni Morrison allowed Jetta to foster their own unique perspective of art.
Not surprisingly, Jetta is also a core member of a group called the Black Arts Collective (BAC) at Harvard University. This group was founded by Senai Robinson, Toussaint Miller, and Anya Sesay. Later, Jetta Strayhorn and Mariah Norman joined these leaders. The BAC was founded due to the recognition of the extraordinary amount of talent that Black Harvard holds. Harvard has an incredible amount of clubs, cliques, groups, classes, and organizations dedicated to the arts, but these groups are almost all based on eurocentricity. Thus, the Black Arts Collective was established to create a space that centers and encourages Black artistry on Harvard’s campus. Groups like Kuumba, a Black acapella group, and Blackcast, a Black theater group, have pioneered black creative spaces before, but the BAC attempts to create as much community as possible for as many art forms as possible. The BAC has created an incredibly refreshing space within Harvard’s campus. The excitement that buzzes around events from this group is palpable, and seeing Black artists in the spotlight is something that Jetta sees as incredibly important.