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Black on Black on Black on Black: An interview with Artist-Scholar Dr. Blair Ebony Smith

2023; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 49; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5406/21518009.49.1.02

2151-8009

Laura J. Hetrick,

Art, Politics, and Modernism

As a note, the Black on Black on Black on Black Exhibition at the Krannert Art Museum (KAM) on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was open from September 24, 2022, through December 10, 2022. This interview is with one of the four artist-curators, Blair Smith.(Both paragraphs of background information are taken directly from https://kam.illinois.edu/exhibition/Black-Black-Black-Black.)laura hetrick [lh]: So first, thank you for your time. To start, tell me about the larger idea behind the exhibit experience Black on Black on Black on Black.blair ebony smith [bes]: So this particular fall, Fall 2022, myself, along with three other colleagues, Nekita Thomas, Patrick Hammie, and Stacey Robinson, who are all faculty in the School of Art & Design, came together to curate and program the first ever Black faculty show in the School of Art & Design.We wanted us to come together and curate a show that not only speaks somewhat to identity and representation, but also things and themes that we are engaged in across our work. In particular, we're thinking about Black Quantum Futurism, which is a theory and practice form by Camae Ayewa (also known as Moor Mother) and Rasheedah Phillips. They are together a collective called Black Quantum Futurism. But the theory and practice around that is thinking about how Black people engage different theories of time and space. So we're all also doing that in our different ways and coming together to share our work around art, design, and space-making with the faculty show in the Krannert Art Museum.lh: How did you all meet and negotiate this? How much time was this—months of planning? Was this years of planning?bes: Yes, it was a year of planning. We've been meeting since last fall to really come together to make sure it was something that we wanted to do, that made sense. So it wasn't like it was like a mandatory thing; it was something that was brought forth by the School of Art & Design and the Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts. But also, this is something that could be exciting to do, and could give us opportunity to make art that we wanted to make, to have conversations we wanted to have, and so we decided and committed to do this together a year ago.lh: What did you want to do that was unique about this exhibition? Because there's programming involved, not just people visiting a show; there was much more.bes: You know, there are so many silos between departments. This was the opportunity for all of us across departments to get together and come together across the common theme and programs, learning more about each other and our work. And so that was one of the goals for me, and I think for everyone else. I think one of the things that came up during the opening was really seeing students who are looking for space and ways to show their art. So also thinking about that, thinking through ways we could do that and work with students, to be in conversation with them. So working with other colleagues in the school, I've gotten amazing e-mails from students who have responded to the work. We just wanna be able to continue to have a good conversation with the art, not just put it up.lh: So to switch gears, can you tell me the story behind your work specifically?bes: Absolutely, yeah, I guess I can start with the Ruth Nicole Brown quote on the wall (see Figure 3) because I think it's very much in conversation with what all the installation is thinking and talking about. But also I think it's how I'm really making sense of my work in relation to Black girlhood studies at the moment.What kind of conversations do I want to have? And so one of the things that comes from working with Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown and the collective, Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths [SOLHOT], is we make spaces for Black girlhood celebration for Black girls.And my particular role in SOLHOT has been as a DJ and an artist, as a music maker with Black girls and women. And so one of the things that comes up in that work a lot is how we remember each other and remember in a way that's through ritual and practice. I really have been thinking about and sitting with that, meditating on that, but also even thinking about how I started DJing. I came to it in a particular way with SOLHOT, but I also had to realize that it had always been there. It's always been in me, even before I got there. The space of celebrating Black girlhood with homegirls gives me permission to celebrate myself.And one of the things about doing SOLHOT and working with Black girls is that you also really have to interrogate your own girlhood, make sense of yourself as a young girl. And so I really wanted to do that, but I wanted to do that in conversation, particularly with my own musical and family archives.And so I wanted to sit with CDs; a lot of the things that my parents, who are deceased, had left with me, is music. So I wanted to really sit with those objects and think about what they were saying, how I could remember with them, create a new ritual of remembering that really thought about what the music was teaching me as a young girl. But even in this moment, how that continues on, and how that's in conversation with SOLHOT, with Black girlhood, and how I come to that work.lh: Where did you start? How did this installation come together?bes: Hmm, that's a great question because this is also not my first installation. I guess how I started is very much connected to SOLHOT, but had an opportunity as a postdoc to work in art education, but through the current Art Museum as a curator.A lot of me thinks about space in new ways. So, I'm sitting with objects, but I'm also knowing that whatever I'm remembering and making is also gonna be within a museum gallery within this installation. So I'm also making sense of that using my experiences with curating Homemade, with Love and thinking about gallery space as home space as living space. Also it's very much in conversation with how I've learned to make space and think about sound, and how that could take up space in the museum. So I'm sitting with objects, but I'm also very much thinking about sound and visual art, visual aesthetics, and that in conversation with the sound, and a series of mix CDs curated by my father that featured his best of jazz and funk music as objects. So it started with those CDs, but it's sort of evolved into so much more.lh: What influenced your choice of materials?bes: I think that it's sort of partly what's around me, and also just letting myself figure that out throughout the process. When I'm imagining coming up with the idea, I wanted to really sit with the CDs. I knew I wanted to have sounds. I wanted audio to be a major part of that installation, and then I really wanted to build living space around that. So a lot of the objects and materials that are in the installation are thinking about music equipment and stereo systems, like what you would see in someone's home. This is also very much in conversation with what I was seeing in my own archives and pictures of my family. And so I really wanted to re-create that in new ways with the sound.lh: For example, the ceiling tile was just around you; it was available. But then you had to figure out how to actually affix the writings from your mother, and some photos. You had to learn how to work with it. But then the metaphor actually became even deeper, when we were talking about how a lot of people do lie in bed and kind of gaze at the ceiling; they're remembering and thinking. Whether or not there's an actual image up there, because there could be posters in young kids’ rooms, but sometimes there's not, and we produce our own thoughts on that ceiling panel. Again, that really spoke to the depth and complexity in that particular choice, which just happened to be around you.bes: At first I was thinking about it as just this acoustic material, but then it just had so many other layers to it. Especially with thinking about home space and walls, and the things that we put on those walls, on those ceilings.It was photo transfers on packing tape, which was a process to sort of get to. So I know I wanted to use the ceiling tile as a surface for the collages that I wanted to create from my own personal archives. This was a mix of family photographs; some of the handwritings you see are from cards that my mother gave to me. I even scanned some of the CDs that were a part of the archives to make these collages, so I know I wanted to somehow get those images on the ceiling tiles.Once I figured out I didn't want to use the Mod Podge, just sort of doing more research, I came across someone who was using packing tape, just printing images onto regular paper, and using packing tape and water to transfer. And so what I did was use the packing tape over the printed image. I soaked it in water for a few minutes and rubbed the excess paper off. And once I did that, the image was on the packing tape. So then I'm being able to layer images.lh: What has been the overall response to this installation?bes: There's definitely been a lot of responses. I think one of the responses that I hear a lot is a great appreciation for vulnerability. And really sharing where I come from, who makes me who I am in a way that is relatable to people.Whether that's people hearing from the music things that sound familiar to them, or through the images, or the actual materials. Folks have really been able to connect in that way, which is really, really special. Tears. Some tears, which I'm really thankful for. People being able to remember folks that they want to remember. You know I had one person during an opening come to me and say “seeing this record made me remember my grandfather. We just had a conversation about this artist last week.” Just sharing how special that is for them to be able to have those moments with people that they love. Those are all the overwhelming majority of responses. Just a really big appreciation for us.lh: The last question relates to that, so how might those responses to this particular work influence your future work?bes: Wow! It definitely continues to give me permission to trust myself and what it is that I have to share. And being open enough to share that with people. This is really scary. I think on top of me sharing myself personally, a lot of the work that I've done in the past has been with collectives—has been with other people in very particular ways. And I think it's just allowing me to trust myself moving forward with what it is that I create. That it's important—that it's worth sharing.lh: Thank you so much for your time and for sharing this very personal installation with us.