The South Got Somethin’ to Say: A Look Into Southern Black American Art

By: Connor Joseph

Long before we took our talents through the great migration, to places like Harlem and Chicago and during the times of Jim Crow when we used our creativity as silent weapons of war. Southern Black Americans have used art as a power of resistance in opposition to oppression. This art has stretched across mediums and around the world. At times being the only voice palpable for white masses, southern Black American art has become the symbol of bravery, freedom, and strength to a community that built a country force upon them. This strength, one might say laid the foundation for Black American art as we know it today. So, does the South have something to say? Moreover, what is the message?

         To better understand, you must first note that the South has always been saying something. For centuries Southern Black Americans have been the cries for freedom. Echoing the same sentiments shared from chattel slavery, southern black art, in whatever medium it subscribes to looks to evoke spirituality that is beyond the "isms" of the world. Given the significant role the American South plays in the consciousness of black minds, it is hard to capture the beauty and history that our ancestors worked to provide despite their harsh reality. This is the role that Southern black art plays, it helps to give context and a freed voice to a population that is at the bottom of the social hierarchy.

Emma Amos (1937-2020), Art Heaven 2006

  While chattel slavery ravished across the South, the enslaved were afforded little to no ways of expressing their creativity. Many times, to serve this desire, women would make elaborate quilts and other forms of textiles such as clothing in order to express their artistic liberties. Slavery distorted how black art was perceived and created. During the antebellum period, black artists such as Joshua Johnson and Augustus Washington grew to prominence across the South but many times their work would only showcase wealthy white families while also holding European influence. After the war and due to the failure of reconstruction, many Black Americans moved North. This movement coined the Great Migration ushered in the Black Art Movement or what some might call the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance produced some of the greatest in Black American art but what many don’t realize is that most of these artists received their education at Historically Black Colleges and Universities located all across the South. This further cemented the footprint of the Southern Black American Experience in the Black Arts movement.

Terrence Osbourne (1976- ), Zulu Morning     

     By the time of the Civil Rights movement, Southern Black Art became symbols of resistance and community. Tackling complex issues of violence, racism, and other disparities that affected those that looked like them at an imperative time of change in American history. For the first time, Southern Black American artists were able to express themselves without the approval of European standards and created astonishing innovations in blackness.

Looking forward to now, modern-day Southern black artists seem to tread on the familial trend of community. Artists like Terrence Osborne, Lynthia Edwards, and Thornton Dial are a few among the Southern artists that have found distinctive ways to integrate the uniqueness of the communities in which they live into their art. Binding their ancestral past, these striking takes on the Southern Black American experience takes on a new voice, that has never quite been heard by the masses, the voice of authenticity.

Lynthia Edward (1978- ), Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah

So, what does the South have to say? Well, a lot actually . The Black American South has the honor of being the foundation for how are perceived in America, not only through the art movement but in every facet. As a black woman, born and raised in the South, I believe that our art is quintessential to the Black American experience. In fact, I thought this was true on a national basis, but when researching I found that there was little to no information on such. Seeing this as an injustice, I hope this blog serves as evidence that this spotlight must remain on Southern Black American Art, not just because they have something to say, but because their message is important.

Sources

Runcie, J. (1976). The Black Culture Movement and the Black Community. Journal of American Studies, 10(2), 185–214. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27553236

Smethurst, J. (2006). The Black Arts Movement and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In L. G. Collins & M. N. Crawford (Eds.), New Thoughts on the Black Arts Movement (pp. 75–91). Rutgers University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hj474.7

Smethurst, J. (2018). Black Arts Movement. In E. R. Edwards, R. A. Ferguson, & J. O. G. Ogbar (Eds.), Keywords for African American Studies (Vol. 8, pp. 19–22). NYU Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvwrm5v9.6

About. Terrance Osborne Art. (2023, March 21). https://terranceosborne.com/about/ 

African American art. Oxford Art Online. (n.d.). https://www.oxfordartonline.com/page/african-american-art?t%3Astate%3Aclient=2SrQKIq3vm7rDIeJL0KzIW73a64 

Feng      |      06 APR 23, & frieze      |      04 APR 23. (n.d.). African American art from the Deep South. Frieze. https://www.frieze.com/article/african-american-art-deep-south 

Called to Create: Black Artists of the American South. Called to create: Black artists of the American South. (n.d.). https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2022/called-to-create.html 

Emma Amos - biography, shows, Articles & More. Artsy. (n.d.-a). https://www.artsy.net/artist/emma-amos 

Finley, C., Griffey, R. R., Peck, A., & Pinckney, D. (2018). My soul has grown deep: Black Art from the American South. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

How african american art and culture blossomed during the harlem renaissance. New World Symphony. (2022, January 25). https://www.nws.edu/news/how-african-american-art-and-culture-blossomed-during-the-harlem-renaissance/ 

Lynthia Edwards - biography, shows, Articles & More. Artsy. (n.d.-b). https://www.artsy.net/artist/lynthia-edwards 

The Making of African American Identitv: Volume I, 1500-1865. Black Artists in Antebellum America, African American identity during the period of slavery, African American Identity: Vol. I, 1500-1865, primary resources in U.S. history and literature, Toolbox Library, National Humanities Center. (n.d.). https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/maai/identity/text5/text5read.htm 

My soul has grown deep: Black Art from the American south - metpublications - the metropolitan museum of art. My Soul Has Grown Deep: Black Art from the American South - MetPublications - The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (n.d.). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/metpublications/My_Soul_Has_Grown_Deep_Black_Art_from_the_American_South 

A new African American Identity: The harlem renaissance. National Museum of African American History and Culture. (2018, March 14). https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/new-african-american-identity-harlem-renaissance 

A new exhibition celebrates a century of southern black art and music at Crystal Bridges Museum of american art: Crystal bridges museum of american art. Crystal Bridges A new exhibition celebrates a century of southern Black art and music at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art Comments. (2022, March 8). https://crystalbridges.org/news-room/crystal-bridges-celebrates-a-century-of-southern-black-art-and-music/ 

Person, & Bethany, K. (2023, April 10). The Black Arts Movement and the power of resistance. 1st Art Gallery. https://www.1st-art-gallery.com/article/the-most-essential-about-the-black-arts-movement/ 

The TVAA. the TVAA. (n.d.). https://tennesseevalleyarts.org/exhibitions-with-southern-black-artists/ 

Textile, Who?

By: Connor Joseph

In the Summer of 2022, I had the honor of touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This gigantic building holds over 20 exhibitions. To the average viewer that may seem quite overwhelming, I know for me it was.  In the Reckoning: Protest. Defiance, Resilience. exhibition I found something that helped change my view on a long-standing style of art that has sustained our culture and community for centuries.

When walking around the politically charged exhibit you will see various mediums of art (mostly photography and paintings) being used to depict the struggles and triumphs of black life. Getting closer to the center, standing still under a single spotlight, is a larger-than-life -vibrant, yet captivating quilt of a young Harriet Tubman made by textile artist Bisa Butler. Harriet, holding her signature stoic pose, is adorned with bright colors on a very dark background to contrast. The material that Harriet is made out of comes directly from Kente fabric and helps to bring in the diasporic ties this art has to the history of African descended people. This one piece of art seemed to bring the whole exhibit together, as if was it gave history and purpose to all of the other art within the exhibit.

         Butler's quilt work has been widely praised throughout the modern art world. Amongst the praises, there seems to be a common thread of appreciation of how Butler's work is a direct tie to our history as a community. Beyond that many black textile artists have recently found themselves in the spotlight. But why is that? What is textile art and how does it tie into the essence of Black Art?

Bisa Butler (1973- ), I Go To Prepare A Place For You

         Textile Art is the use of synthetic fibers, plants, or animals to make art. Within Black American Art one of the most commonly used textiles is quilt making which has been used as both a political and cultural statement since the times of chattel slavery. During the time of chattel slavery, quilts were used to relay secret messages of freedom to the enslaved. Many could say that the quilts were some of the first forms of Black Art within America. Since then, quilts have taken on the task of being political symbols for the black community. Using layers of intricate designs, they encourage us to look beyond what meets the eye. This mimics the methods and practices found throughout the history of the Black American Experience.  

         Long before quilt-making reached the shores of the Americas, textile art was culturally tied to Africa. Throughout the continent, distinctive styles of fabric helped to bring textiles to what we know today.  Whether it be West African Kente cloths created by the Assante and Ewe tribes, bark cloth from Central Africa, or silks from Madagascar, textiles have been foundational to all art stemming from the diaspora. Mostly used as a form of fashion, textiles became most known for creating costumes, ceremonial dresses, and contemporary fashion. This medium has been a way for many black artists across the diaspora to connect to their ancestral past while also planting themselves right at the center of modern art and design.

Bisa Butler (1973- ), Mighty Gents

         Another artist sweeping the textile world by storm is Chicago-based artist, Nick Cave who is known for his larger-than-life installations. Cave’s art is centered around "sound suits" which are bizarre concoctions where fashion meets sculpture. Empowered by the Rodney King beatings, these suits represent metaphorical armor. Playing into Afro-futurism, the sound suits are supposed to transcend race, class, and gender forcing the viewer to look without bias. With heavy ties to the past, Cave's textile work wants the very opposite of its viewers and rather focuses on how innovative the viewer can imagine. The very foundation of Cave's work proves a lane for textiles to journey into the future of Black Art.

Nick Cave (1959 -), Soundsuit #3

Understanding the delicate role that textile art plays in the art world, one may conclude that textiles are the essence of black art. A true tie to our ancestral home, textiles, no matter the materials used, is an art form that represents the complexities that come with blackness and also the uniqueness of our story. Not only here, but all across the diaspora. My future sees textile art placing itself in the center of black art, what does yours see?

Nick Cave (1959 -), Soundsuit #3

Sources

Radfar, F. (2021, March 5). Textile Art & Racial Identity. mirappraisal. https://www.mirappraisal.com/12-01-16/textile-art-racial-identity 

Nick Cave’s soundsuits - for sale on artsy. Artsy. (n.d.-b). https://www.artsy.net/artist-series/nick-cave-soundsuits 

Nick Cave. Art21. (n.d.). https://art21.org/artist/nick-cave/ 

The legacy of African American textile art with Cynthia Lockhart. Artists Archives of the Western Reserve. (n.d.). https://www.artistsarchives.org/event/the-legacy-of-african-american-textile-art/ 

I go to prepare a place for you. National Museum of African American History and Culture. (n.d.). https://nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaahc_2021.38 

Herrmann, F. (n.d.). Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - nick cave’s soundsuits. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - Nick Cave’s Soundsuits. https://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2020/10/personal-protective-equipment-ppe-nick.html 

Four of the most inspiring African-American textile artists. Kenart. (n.d.). http://www.ken-art.com/blog/post/219/four-of-the-most-inspiring-african-american-textile-artists 

About Bisa Butler. bisa butler art. (n.d.). https://www.bisabutler.com/about-5 

Bisa Butler - biography, shows, Articles & More. Artsy. (n.d.-a). https://www.artsy.net/artist/bisa-butler 

Black textile art. WEST HARLEM ART FUND. (2022, September 6). https://westharlem.art/2022/09/06/black-textile-art/ 

Four of the most inspiring African-American textile artists. Kenart. (n.d.). http://www.ken-art.com/blog/post/219/four-of-the-most-inspiring-african-american-textile-artists 

South African Art: A Look Into the Innovators of the Continent

By: Connor Joseph

The Chicago Art Expo is one of the biggest showcases of new artistry in the world. For many Black Artists, this becomes a huge stepping stone as far as exposure and helps to kick off their many careers. This year when looking at the Black Art on display I saw some of the most innovative and, what some might describe as, eccentric art which, transcends reality and sucks you into its experience. Something I haven’t seen in a while. I believed that it was a testament to how diverse diasporic art has become and in many cases that is true. However, there seems to be a trend amongst the origins of the Who's Who in Black Art. The majority of the Black artists displayed at the expo came from South Africa. In 2020, Forbes foretold about this trend citing that the opening of the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) helped to cement the country's status as an international art capital. So why is that? What makes South African art so innovative and different from the rest of the Art world?

To understand this current phenomenon, we must first understand what makes South African Art so distinctive. South African Art, as we know it today, emerged from the experience of native South African people under apartheid as well as years of Dutch involvement and influence. When I first started my quest of understanding Black South African Art, I realized that not much had been written about earlier modern-day artists. In fact, when Google searching “first mainstream modern-day South African artists” white artists William Kentridge and Marlene Dumas are some of the most common names to pop up.

George Pemba (1912-2001), Epolojice My Warship

It wasn’t until I added the context of color that I started to find connections to the art that first caught my eye at the expo. We can thank South Africa’s long seeded racial history as the cause of this lack of exposure. The apartheid made being not only a black person, but specially a black artist nearly impossible for a land these people called their home. A similar experience can be found in the ways Jim Crow terrorized Black Americans.  Black South African artists like Gerard Sekoto and George Pemba helped to break through the mostly white-run field of Art during the apartheid which helped led a to voice to an otherwise silenced population. Pemba and Sekoto’s work of social realism still relied heavily on European techniques, however, it is the mere presence of blackness being showcased which makes this art so revolutionary. Pemba works in the Negro and Bantu Art exhibition in the 1930’s made waves all across South Africa, something unheard for black artists at the time.  In 1940 Sekoto became the first black artist to have a picture purchased for a museum collection by the Johannesburg Art Gallery.  Both artists’ work was seen as signs of the revolution during the 1970s. These subtle political strides in turn gave leeway to Black South African Artistry to become more mainstream.

Gerard Sekoto (1913-1993), Wash Day

Today you can look for artists like Athi-Patra Ruga and Manyaku Mashilo to continue this trend of innovation. Athi-Patra Ruga is a Mthatha – born artist whose grandiose art finds no boundary. It is playful, eye-catching, and “beyond the curve”. With blackness at its center Ruga, uses surrealism throughout different mediums to explore culture, sensuality, and ideology to create elaborate cultural hybrids. I believe this is best showcased through his painting Nomalizo Khwezi Rendered in the Prevailing Mannerism, which in many ways reminds me of the work of Gerard Sekoto and the stillness that comes along with their characters. however, unlike Sekoto, Ruga's characters have a hidden sense of strength behind them almost as if they are in direct opposition to the past.

Athi-Patra Ruga (1984- ), Nomalizo Khwezi Rendered in the Prevailing Mannerism

Manyaku Mashilo is a Limpopo-born artist who uses mixed mediums and whose artistry isolates its subjects to address themes such as memory, ancestry, community, and spiritual identity. Mashilo's work brings you into a cosmic space of oneness with their subjects which creates an intimate experience between the viewer and the art. I found this sense of intimacy to be similarly found in the works of George Pemba. However, unlike Pemba, Mashilo's goal is to have to the viewer transcend reality into the "otherness" of the characters in which she creates.

       To truly understand why South African art is leading the trends of the art world is to understand the delicate lane South African artistry has placed itself, drawing from the past but placing it in abstract view becoming the epitome of what we know as Black Surrealism with touches of Afro-futurism. This subtle combination is not only South African innovation but is also important to Black Diasporic Art history as a whole. The boundaries I’ve seen broken by the actions of Pemba and Sekoto are the same boundaries I’ve seen being broken in the artistry of Ruga and Mashilo and in many other South African artists. All of which makes me excited to see what more South Africa and other countries amongst the diaspora have to offer. This, I believe, is only the beginning for the innovators of the continent.

Manyaku Mashilo (1991- ), Mollo wa Badimo

Sources

Digital, P. (2017, November 23). South African art. Brand South Africa. https://brandsouthafrica.com/22111/overview-history-south-african-art/ 

Dunn, A. (2023, February 21). African art market trends - growing demand from western collectors. OneArtNation. https://www.oneartnation.com/african-art-market-trends/ 

Expo Chicago 2023. Artsy. (n.d.). https://www.artsy.net/fair/expo-chicago-2023/artworks 

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Gerard Sekoto. Sothebys.com. (n.d.). https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/gerard-sekoto 

MoMAA, E. (2023, April 15). African art market trends: What to expect in 2023. MoMAA. https://momaa.org/african-art-market-trends-what-to-expect-in-2023/ 

Mun-Delsalle, Y.-J. (2020, August 21). South Africa is fast becoming the African continent’s art and Design Capital. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/yjeanmundelsalle/2020/08/02/south-africa-is-fast-becoming-the-african-continents-art-and-design-capital/?sh=21209877366d 

About. Manyaku Mashilo. (n.d.). https://www.manyakumashilo.com/about 

Milwa Mnyaluza “George” pemba. Milwa Mnyaluza “George” Pemba | South African History Online. (n.d.). https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/milwa-mnyaluza-george-pemba 

Delagrange, J. (2023, May 8). The top 30 African painters you need to know today - contemporary art issue. Contemporary Art Issue - Platform, Publisher & Gallery on Contemporary Art. https://www.contemporaryartissue.com/the-top-30-african-painters-you-need-to-know-today/