This Is What I Know About Art is now one of my favorite books because it is so rich with information about artists. The best part is that it is a short book, and is easy to read. I love how Kimberly uses ordinary words that anybody can read and understand her point of view. I appreciated all the information she provided about so many black artists, that to be frank, I did not know any one of them.
Kimberly telling us her journey in art is very important because it helps us illustrate some of the problems that we have discussed in class like diversity. The issue with diversity in the United States is everywhere, and that includes the art world, of course. In many art exhibitions, art programs, museums, galleries, art competitions, art books, etc the lack of diversity is palpable. She talks in her book a lot about the lack of diversity in her book especially when she started working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. She expresses how even one of the guards was impressed that they hired someone like her. She also expresses how the lack of black artists was missing at the MET, as she expresses: “But something was still missing for me. Each day that I walked into the building, I would see bust of Bramante, Michelangelo, Raphael, Dürer, Rembrandt, and Velázquez carved into the building’s facade by the sculptor Karl Bitter. I thought about how I may see Carrie Mae Weems, Loïs Mailou Jones, or Jacob Lawrence celebrated in the same way.”(Drew 57) She expresses how she would love to see black artists celebrated in the MET because the lack of diversity and black artists in the Museum was something noticeable.
Moreover, she did not shy away and stayed quiet on that subject because it was so important to her. As she expresses she had emotions about it and she wanted to do something with those emotions, but there was a risk, she was angry. “There was a point in my career where I feared my anger. I feared that my anger would scare others.” (Drew 59) but if we use our anger being smart and using strategies we can do something good and positive, and hopefully impact others. As Thelma Golden advised her, it was not enough to be angry, she had to use strategies and come up with smarter solutions.
The first step I would do to become an activist is to find something that is important to me and that I am passionate about. I would also recommend artists, authors, historians, and curators do the same. I am very passionate, and passion is an unstoppable force that can take me to wherever I want to, and with passion, many dreams can become true. After I find the subject matter the next step is executed, it doesn’t matter how small we start or how big, the important part is to start it. Starting a project using any type of art or media is a good opportunity to invite people to participate. For example, in the case of Kimberly Drew, started a Tumblr page called “Black Contemporary art” where she started posting pictures of Black artists that she felt that they needed more recognition for her work. Later on, she explains how she got two volunteers that helped her become an editorial team. As Kimberly found a team that helped her and was collaborating with her cause, that end became their cause. I believe I can find people to start my cause. I will never know who can join me if I don’t start the project in the first place. It is also important to always be aware of what is around me, that would help me come up with ideas on how to get my message to people. “Creative people are observers” (Duncombe, Lambert 60) the more I pay attention to what is around me, the more creative ideas I will get.
Kimberly’s work was very inspiring to me, English is my secondary word. I still talk and think in Spanish. Naturally, I don’t know many fancy words in English, and sometimes I even have problems saying or writing some words correctly. Reading her book taught me that I do not need fancy words to write a book, I can use ordinary terms and non-academic words, and still, get my message out there. I would say that the whole book to me was impactful, but two quotes stood out to me the most. “On top of my heartbreak, my grandfather passed away during my first year of college, and while we were never close, his death had a tremendous impact on my financial aid package. My immediate family did not inherit any money, but the federal government thought otherwise.” (Drew 13) being in college is stressful enough for me and on top of the topic of finances just adds more to the pile of stress. As I said before in class, we shouldn’t pay to get an education, but sadly, we do. The other quote that got me was: “When I graduated from school, I also wanted an escape. I was able to walk from graduation, even though I still owed the college $400, and I didn’t receive my diploma until later that summer. Receiving an empty diploma booklet was a welcome metaphor for how much work I still had to do. I was paranoid, but at least I knew my next step.” (Drew28) This is another quote that I felt related to because I am always wondering what is gonna happen when I finish school. What is going to happen to me gives me extreme anxiety, and maybe that’s because it is part of my personality. I am always thinking a few steps ahead of me, and I know that is a good thing, and at the same time is bad. Anxiety can be our worst enemy sometimes. However, as she says it is important to at least make a plan for what your next step is going to be.
To me, representing different types of beauty is very important. As a photographer, as an artist, and as a person I love faces, and I love stories. I love to talk to my models and earn their trust so they can open up to me, and they can tell me their stories. I want to write and tell stories of people and their insecurities. I want to know their stories of mental health, discrimination, and whatever they want to tell me. As an artist, my way to create activism will be through photography. I love to photograph everything important to me. The art of photography is amazing because it captures moments that on some occasions do not need a caption. I want to have safe conversations with people, but I would also love to photograph them to record some physical evidence of those conversations. As Susan Sontag states: “Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it. (Sontag) I’m still not sure what to do with my project in the future, but I would love to see it in a book or a gallery somewhere. I would love to have a website like “Humans Of New York”. Humans of New York is a huge inspiration for what I want to do. Its website is full of portraits and personal stories. Is so interesting to read stories and see the faces of the people that are telling their stories. The mix of photographs and texts is fascinating to me. Humans Of New York, also have books. I would like them below. In conclusion. I am still new in the world of activism, and I am aware that I have a lot to learn, but I can’t wait to see what the future has for me.
Words cited
Drew, Kimberly. This Is What I Know About Art. Penguin Young Readers Group, 2020.
Duncombe, Stephen, and Steve Lambert. The Art of Activism: Your All-purpose Guide to Making the Impossible Possible. OR Books, LLC, 2021.
https://www.humansofnewyork.com/
http://www.susansontag.com/SusanSontag/books/onPhotographyExerpt.shtml
Here are some examples of photographs I have taken of people that I had conversations with. I won't include their stories right now, but I would take portraits like this, and then tell their stories. This is just an idea.
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