Artist Statement
Afropunk is a social movement celebrating black culture as a diverse and positive group of ideals that emphasizes self identity and how being yourself is powerful. In this show I want to express a subculture celebrating their differences through art. This series is expressing different perspectives of this concept and the movement of Afropunk. The goal is to inspire viewers to see how diversity and art affects themselves and everyone around them. Experiencing something that is immersive puts you inside a diverse culture to experience the importance of expression. In this case I’m using fashion portraits to demonstrate a characteristic of the movement.
As an artist I resonate with this movement because I think that as humans we look at our differences as something that separates us. Instead we should view our differences as bridges that connect us all together. By creating a stringed “mind” you can see how each piece is connected visually. Each portrait has a different look but same feeling to show the idea of a collective energy. The words are spoken from the participants in the portraits of their own perspective of Afropunk. All different points of view but about the same topic.
Afropunk started in Brooklyn, New York as a festival. People came dressed purely as themselves and musicians would perform their songs talking about empowerment and self love. The festival has grown into something much more and music is such an important characteristic for this movement. There’s that old saying of music feeds the soul. Art has a universal feeling and love is the language spoken. Bringing different forms of art together expresses the diversity of the world. Allow yourself to feel, think, and process each aspect of the show.
Videos from opening night.
AAU Spring Show 2019
One of the images from this exhibition was also in the Academy of Art University Spring Show 2019. Here is some pics/vids from opening day.
