RETURN TO VISIONARY ARCHIVE
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POWER TO THE PEOPLE | VISIONARY | 11 | 2008
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Agitators Collective | Peeps 2006
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Agitators Collective is releasing the best parts of contemporary fine art: hunger for beauty, intuitive design and sheer delicious delight from the gallery to the outdoors. 

Indirectly expanding on the abandoned space movements of the late 70’sand 80’s they seek to have us all re-vision our “abandoned spaces”whether they be abandoned lots, parks or museum front windows to“claimed” heart owned spaces.  They use everyday objects, words and phrases repeatedly, with rhythm to penetrate our consciousness.

Like world renown artist El Anatsui they make a strong claim that art can be found in one’s surroundings and in the common.  Inan interview he stated “I want it to be material that relates to thepeople, you know, to people, not something that is distant from them.”Consequently as Agitators Collective continues to re-define and act,there practice becomes one of simply relating to and opening  theheart’s definition of beauty.

REBORN is pleased to present VISIONARY |Agitators Collective.

- Noelle Lorraine Williams| VISIONARY  | A Project of REBORN

This interview was conducted by e-mail October 2008.

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CURRENT EVENT
RED BADGE OF COURAGE | 550 Broad Street | NEWARK ARTS COUNCIL
www.newarkarts.org

JERSEY CITY MUSEUM
www.jerseycitymuseum.org

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POWER TO THE PEOPLE | AGITATORS COLLECTIVE
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| Agitators Collective is reclaiming the beauty of the abandoned land.

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"Beauty will save the world" - Dostoevsky

 

"Ah, but who will save beauty?" - Mayakovsky

 

"We will save beauty!"- Agitators Collective
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NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS | How would you define beauty? Do you think that the pursuit of beauty by the "disenfranchised" is a radical act?

AGITATORS COLLECTIVE | In our first project, Peep Parade, we arranged 8,000 multi-colored marshmallow Peeps on concrete staircase in River View Park in Jersey City Heights . The staircase lead to a cobblestone road that stands adjacent to a shanty town overlooking Hoboken.We arranged the Peeps in the morning. I'd say it took us a little morethan an hour or so to set up. We drove back to document the project inthe early afternoon. While we were there, a man - disheveled, unkempt -walked over to the Peeps. A few were scattered across the cobblestonestreet. This man bent down to his hands and knees, and replaced thewayward Peeps to their original place. Then he walked away. This is mydefinition of beauty. 

 

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS | Your collective is located in Jersey City, NJ one of the most ethnically diverse areas in the United States. Is their a common definition of beauty that spans across ethnicity, economics?

 

AGITATORS COLLECTIVE | Ido not know if there is a common definition of beauty that spans acrossethnicity and economics. That being said, many residents haveparticipated in our projects, from playing hopscotch in Grove StreetPATH Station to writing "who will save beauty?" in Vietnamese on theside of a wall. Many residents have taken photographs of our projectswith digital cameras, cell phones, disposable cameras. Most recently,we asked citizens in Jersey City to translation "love is all around" into their native tongue. We managed to gather more than thirty languages.

 

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS |While it seems that how people define beauty in the "private" domesticsphere is often where people think the business of art lies, you allplace an emphasis in the public sphere.   How do you feel we can createan environment that is rigorously beautiful while being open to a"democracy" of visions of what beauty is and can be?

 

AGITATORS COLLECTIVE | InAgitators Collective, ideas are freely shared and labor evenlydistributed. We specifically choose materials and objects that capturethe culture of Jersey City, such as candy from the corner bodega, Christmas lights from a 99 cent store on Newark Avenue,and found objects taken from a vacant lot underneath an overpass. Thelocations we choose are either overrun with commuter traffic or inremote corners of the city.

 

AgitatorsCollective seeks to involve the public in our installations. The pieceshave ranged from 8,000 marshmallow peeps on the stairwell of a citypark to a 100 foot circle in turmeric in a parking lot, and thepublic's spontaneous reactions have spurred our future works.

 

AgitatorsCollective's works transform downtrodden sites into areas of vibrantcreative activity. We cultivate life into dead public spaces to makepeople - particularly those people who have neither had the opportunitynor the luxury to set foot in an art gallery or museum - think abouttheir space differently. 

 

Fromcreating a hopscotch court at a busy train station to painting "whowill save beauty?" in over thirty languages on the side of an abandonedbuilding, we seek to involve the community in our artwork, andtransform neighborhood sites into vibrant playgrounds and beautifulexhibition spaces.

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"We arranged the Peeps in the morning... drove back to
document the project in the early afternoon. While we
were there, a man - disheveled, unkempt - walked over
to the Peeps. A few were scattered across the
cobblestone street. This man bent down to his hands
and knees, and replaced the wayward Peeps to their
original place. Then he walked away. This is my
definition of beauty." - Agitators Collective
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NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS | Isthere a particular reason that many of your projects utilize multiples,repetition and bright patterns?  Is there any relationship totraditional textiles?

AGITATORS COLLECTIVE | Weoften focus on downtrodden areas that have fallen into neglect ordereliction. The sites range from vacant lots and abandoned blacktops,empty storefronts and concrete slabs beneath

 

Wearranged Christmas lights to spell "beauty" in Arabic in four vacantstorefront windows across the street from City Hall in December 2006.We asked an Egyptian friend to translate beauty into Arabic. Before weinstalled the lights, we went into a bodega on Grove Streetto see if the translation was correct. It wasn't. The clerk translatedthe beauty in Arabic. His written translation became AgitatorsCollective's guide in the installation. 

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Biography - AGITATORS COLLECTIVE
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Agitators Collective, a collaborative project, was co-founded in 2006 in Jersey City, New Jerseyby Triple A, Sweet Tooth, and JellyFish. Agitators Collective createssite related installations in urban locales that have fallen intoneglect or dereliction in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Agitators Collective: Triple A aka AAA; Sweet Tooth aka Bubsie O'Malley aka B.O.M; Mick Night; Jellyfish aka M.I.A., etc.

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Links

Agitators Collective
http://www.agitatorscollective.com/
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RETURN TO VISIONARY ARCHIVE
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POWER TO THE PEOPLE | VISIONARY |11|2008
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| Fidel Castro | Zacharay Green | 2008
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Questioning culture and the status quo is not an idol exercise. 

Nor is it just the practice of philosophers and artists.  As evident in popular culture - the yearning to understand and articulate the self is omnipresent.

Specifically, it is a practice of repeatedly revealing what reality and culture are now: shifting, mercurial and intensely sensed that is the primary obsession.

Asha Ganpat curated Boys and Power that exhibited at REDSAW gallery (of which she is one of the founders) in early 2008.  Her curatorial work is parallel to her art practice – choosing what is valuable or safe to our emotional realities and re-imagining it in sometimes discomforting but truthful and innovative ways. 

In Native American, European and African cultures the trickster and the trick in oral history and literature is the story.  Her presentation of Power by these four artists actually pushed us into a space of vulnerability and surprise.  She is planning an exhibition titled Girls and Weakness in January and we look forward to her provocation of gender then.

 

VISIONARY presents Asha Ganpat’s Boys and Power.

 

This interview took place by e-mail October 2008.

- Noelle Lorraine Williams| VISIONARY  | A Project of REBORN
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POWER TO THE PEOPLE | BOYS AND POWER
ASHA GANPAT
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| Asha Ganpat is messing with your dreams of gender and power.
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"...Socialization is a universal method which teaches the young to become their own captors.  I am my own captor, just as you are yours.  There are exceptional visual artists and other thinkers who have stumbled upon the limits of their personal captivity....  After we experience their works, we are changed. " - ASHA GANPAT
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NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS|One thing that is interesting about your work as an artist and curator is that you engage sex and gender throughout your work.  However, it doesn't seem to be a central focus but rather apart of a series of ideologies including punishment, religion, morality, power and international migration.

What was your impetus in organizing "Boys and Power?"

ASHA GANPAT| I have had some difficulty understanding why contemporary curators put together all-female or all-male shows.  I see little need for gender segregation in exhibitions and throughout life, often more than others.  (This does range from bathrooms with gender-based icons to pre-marriage rites to clothing and make-up)  I know that my views are extreme when compared with the general populus', but they are the views I have come to accept as the most enjoyable to have.  To put it lightly, I just can't see why it matters which bathroom I go into, or with a bit more accusation, why one is for me and one is off limits.

Socialization is a universal method which teaches the young to become their own captors.  I am my own captor, just as you are yours.  There are exceptional visual artists and other thinkers who have stumbled upon the limits of their personal captivity.  This means they have found yours and mine too, because we are together-socialized we share many of these limits with one another.  Then these exceptional people create works which twist, trick and question our very selves.  After we experience their works, we are changed.  What these artists are doing is simply getting us to think more deeply than we had before.  The things we take for granted are put into light.  This is the situation I strive for with my own work.  Gender, sexuality, religion, morality...it is all the same problem to explore from this perspective.

For the BOYS AND POWER exhibition, I wanted to push my own limits.  I decided to do the thing the got on my nerves so much.  An all male show about men who wield power over others.  It felt obnoxious, an epitome of that which I stand and speak out against.  It started with Zachary Green.  He is an artist who works in Hoboken and creates exquisite stained glass panels.  The first piece of the show and the piece all others were chosen around was a portrait of Benito Mussolini.  In the piece, we see him standing with his hands at his sides gazing off into the distance, exuding pride and confidence.  That work might have been the only piece which could persuade me into an exhibition of this nature.  The sister exhibition, GIRLS AND WEAKNESS is presently in the making.  I believe that I must be fair and jump into each polarity of this nature.
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David Keefe
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NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS|The pieces in the show project isolated images of masculinity and isolation – not only in their visual composition but also in their relationship to other subjects (animate and inanimate) and the emotional tenor of the work.

Artist Kehinde Wiley whose work focuses on representations of masculinity in portraiture explains "my perception of painting, which is for me an enterprise about very powerful men. The history of painting has been the history of those men trying to position themselves in fields of power that are very defined and codified as a type of vocabulary that's evolved over time."

ASHA GANPAT|I agree with Wiley's take on the history of painting; it is both a sad and true thing.  Yes, painting has been widely ruled by portraits of and about powerful men.  However, we must remember that history is not the same as the past.  We are fortunate to have artists like Artemesia Gentileschi slip through the cracks of censure and suppression to remind us that each painting is a singular struggle of the painter, not a singular triumph of a powerful man.  It is easy to forget that the works presented by scholars in their Art History books and museum walls are not unbiased surveys of the past but instead are only recreated histories where exclusion is integral to posterity.  And that's how you really win this game, you only count if you are remembered. 

Wiley has picked up, so successfully, the quiet cues of isolation from historical works and often paints his subjects so large and proud that there would not be room for anything else in the frame. Wiley's solitude was a different type than the one experienced by the subjects in the works of the BOYS AND POWER show.  David Keefe's landscapes with double self-portraits have a lonely, outsider type of solitude.  Drawing from his childhood environs and the aggressive Iraq war-scape, he carefully places himself twice, not as two people existing at the same time but instead as one person with straying thoughts of two different times.  These memories come together in his paintings like the moment when a dream becomes a nightmare or the reverse.
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"We are fortunate to have artists like Artemesia Gentileschi slip through the cracks of censure and suppression to remind us that each painting is a singular struggle of the painter, not a singular triumph of a powerful man. " - ASHA GANPAT
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NYUGEN E. SMITH | BUNDLE BOY | 2008

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS| How do you feel that isolation and the "heroic" figure play in your choice of work for the show and our understanding of masculinity in general?

ASHA GANPAT| Is the hero not always on his or her own?  Always surrounded by those who must be helped or overcome?  To answer your question, "hero "is so subjective.  I'm not trying to dodge but I'd like to guess that the show had fewer heroes than villains.  If we asked all of the men depicted in the show if they were hero or villain, I suspect that the only one to offer himself as villain would be Albert Einstein.

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS|Do you think to be a boy or man is antithetical to community?

ASHA GANPAT|I'm not sure our society knows yet what to do with today's boy.  Childhood, as we know it, has not existed for much more than a century.  It is an ample jump from boy to man, maybe not so far as from girl to woman.  Boys are dismissed while men are heard.  Girls have the great misfortune to be relatively dismissed throughout life if they don't fight at least a little to be heard.  Societal treatment of girls and women seems more like an evolution when held against the vast differences between treatment of boys and men.  Manhood is largely a product of socialization.  I think that it is a chicken/egg dilemma. Did manhood construct community as we know it or is it the other way around?

Nyugen Smith's contribution to BOYS AND POWER was his first showing of a bundle boy. The sculpture is of a bundle boy dragging a sled piled high with bits and parts.  He himself is created of the same bits as his load.  We have seen his bundle houses before but never the inhabitants.  Smith's decision to create a male child instead of a grown man seems so necessary.  It introduced us to the potential of the boy instead of the materialization of a man's deeds.  The burden of the boy was amplified by the metaphors on his sled, i.e. flag.  To focus on a single aspect of the piece, a flag is never just a piece of fabric.  It is the culmination of the will of man to assert himself against others, to create the "us" and "them." 


NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS| Were there any questions or reactions from the artist's audience in viewing the work that surprised or compelled you?   In what way in your own curatorial practice does audience engagement fuel or amplify your praxis?

ASHA GANPAT|I was surprised by the audience reaction of Kevin Stapp's installations.  Stapp inset quotes on the walls, quotes by men such as Dr. M.L.K. Jr., and F.D.R.  Many members of the audience were not finding the work on their own.  However, it became part of their charm.  When describing his work, Stapp told me that he has decided not to create any more objects as art.  His Installations became whispers from the past, nudges, reminders.  His were quotes of positivity, inspiration and warning about how we must not let ourselves become overrun by our ruling governments.  I must say, watching people stare so intently at walls which seem blank was fun.  That aspect was reminiscent of the situations I like to get people into with my own work.

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS| Please tell me about your upcoming show "Girls and Weakness" and some of your questions that you are posing in organizing it?

ASHA GANPAT|Unlike BOYS AND POWER, I do not have a piece which will inspire the rest of the exhibition.  I am not interested in creating a mirror of the prior; I do not want an exhibition by women about weak women and how they express it.  I am more interested in an exhibition about struggling with and against the state of weakness, both feminine and general.   I cannot yet envision the next exhibition, but I expect to begin to solicit visits with artists during this month to see what they are exploring now.
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Biography  - ASHA GANPAT_
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Asha Ganpat is a sculptor who was born in Trinidad, WI and currently lives/works in New Jersey. She received her B.F.A. from Mason Gross, Rutgers University and M.F.A. from Montclair State University. Ganpat has shown at institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Insitituto di Cultura, Exit Art, The Noyes Museum, Seton Hall University, The Jersey City Museum and the Nathan Cummings Foundation. She is a alumni of Aljira's Emerge program and has received the award of Best In Show for her work in the Metro Show at City Without Walls in Newark New Jersey. In addition, Ganpat is an adjunct professor of sculpture at Montclair State University and is co-founder/director of Red Saw Gallery in Newark.
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About - REDSAW
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Red Saw was founded in July of 2005 at 585 Broad St. Newark New Jersey. From the early planning, the founders, Lowell Craig, Asha Ganpat, Seth Goodwin, and Dave Smith identified Newark as an exciting location. They wanted to work in conjunction with the present vibe of the artist community and growing scene in Downtown Newark, to utilize the city's accessibility and to further it's potential.

With the intention of enhancing the current art scene, Red Saw has aims to exhibit and promote both established and emerging contemporary artists. The four gallerists take turns curating, inviting guest curators, and holding juried shows. Within the interim of larger exhibitions, Red Saw seeks to hold cultural events, Which will include all creative media, Such as film screenings, poetry readings, performance art, experimental dance and music. In addition Red Saw has invited artists to an open call slide review.


RED SAW ART
(DOWNTOWN NEWARK \ Newark Arts District)
585 Broad Street
Newark, NJ 07102

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Links

Asha Ganpat
www.ashaganpat.com

Red Saw Art
http://www.redsawart.com/wb/

VISIONARY Interview | MOTHER OF GOD
http://blog.rebornhome.com/2007/11/03/interview-with-asha-ganpat--_gaia-arts-collective.aspx
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RETURN TO VISIONARY ARCHIVE
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POWER TO THE PEOPLE | VISIONARY |11|2009
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 | The Westinghouse Project | Gallery Entry| Copyright Matt Gosser | 2008
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Most fascinating about Matt Gosser’s Ar+chaeology  work is that it reveals him to be profoundly imaginative and courageous. 

Foraging in abandoned buildings, recreating parts into 12 foot tall machine sculptures and galvanizing art shows with dozens of other artists utilizing materials of intricate detail and historical beauty is the cornerstone of his practice.

Gosser’s work fosters a popular engagement of people (students, artists, community members, and politicians) into re - envisioning how we imagine and value abandoned landmarks where we live and work.  

Exploring, documenting and preserving in cities including Manhattan, Hoboken, Jersey City and most prolifically Newark, NJ he seeks to engage everyone – from within the academy to all sectors of community with remembering and rebuilding strength and beauty.

VISIONARY presents Matt Gosser’s Ar+chaeology The Westinghouse Project.

- Noelle Lorraine Williams | VISIONARY  | A REBORN project.
 
CURRENT EVENTS

The Westinghouse Project 10/11/2008 – 11/29/2008

www.gosser.info

NJ School of Architecture, Newark, NJ
FILM SCREENING 10|25|2008

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Red Badge of Courage Opening 10/26/2008
570 Broad Street 9th Floor
www.newarkarts.org

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POWER TO THE PEOPLE | MATT GOSSER |
The Westinghouse Project

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| Matt Gosser is remixing our architectural memories.

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"...our past is too important to forget.  We come from a very proud industrial heritage that valued ingenuity and efficiency.  [It's what sets] us apart as a world leader.  The problems that face us today will require us to re-learn those traits in order to survive." - Matt Gosser
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This interview took place by e-mail October 2008.

Newark, Jersey City and Detroit (amongst many American cities) experienced a significant boom in the production of commercial design goods in the early twentieth century resulting in them becoming the most powerful icons of the success of American industrialism.
 
However, with the downturn of many of these cities there seems to be limited preservation of this past and the existing architecture.  Though several projects exist including the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit MOCAD (a converted former auto dealership) and Jersey City Museum (a former post office warehouse) these areas   not only suffer from an economic depression but a visual one as well that affects the spirit of the people who inhabit (temporarily and permanently) these spaces.

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS |What is the spiritual and emotional value of a building to a community?  For example the buildings that you have chosen as apart of Ar+chaeology include a beer factory (Pabst Brewery) and a prison.  How does preservation of these particular sites contribute to our communal development?  What aesthetic values does it validate?

MATT GOSSER | Buildings can have a multitude of meanings to the citizens of a city.  For those that work there, it can signify there livelihood, or the taking away of their livelihood if they get laid off (as in the Pabst brewery).  If they enjoy their work it can conjure good memories... bad if they hate their job.  A person's workplace is often seen as an extended family - especially if they've worked there for decades.  And that feeling can extend to the worker's real family and the association they have with that company and/or building. 

For those that don't work there but live in the neighborhood, the building can represent productivity, prosperity, calamity, a nuisance, etc. depending on what particular experiences they've had with that building.  When a company goes under and the building becomes vacant, usually the neighborhood views what's left as an eyesore and a dangerous place.  That's because delinquents, [prostitution], addicts, gang members and the homeless tend to occupy the insides.

 

For the rest of the population, the building can serve as a representation of the city - in good times and bad.  The image of the bottle on top of the Pabst brewery served as a landmark to millions of people over decades... mostly in a positive way.  When it was gone, people really missed it.

The real question is, do we leave abandoned buildings alone, tear them down to make something new or do we renovate them?  Sometimes you may want to tear down completely - especially if there are overwhelmingly bad connotations associated with a building (but that's rare).  What's preferable is to find a new use for that building.  From a materials and environmental standpoint, that makes a lot of sense.  From a historic perspective, a city should embrace its past - making every attempt to preserve the character of its infrastructure.  Chances are something culturally or historically significant can be associated with a city's older buildings.  In addition, the craftsmanship and materials of structures made 100 years ago are extremely hard to duplicate in today's building industry.  The last alternative, to leave abandoned buildings alone, is fine as long as they don't pose a danger to the public.  Urban explorers and artists can take their chances in there and hopefully produce a body of work that can either help preservation efforts or increase public appreciation for our disappearing heritage.

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS | With time the industrial boom and prosperity seem like a mythic past - some distant memory of stability and prosperity.  What has been your response from community members who have worked in or interacted with these sites been like?

MATT GOSSER |Some think the past should be left in the past, others think an appreciation of the past should be nurtured.  Most community members that I have talked to think my efforts are a positive influence on the greater community.
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"The end result however, is usually the same - an exhibition filled with many different artists expressing through their own unique language/vision their experience with one particular building." - Matt Gosser
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NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS| In what ways do you feel that you are expanding on and transforming how artists work with found objects?  How do community members perceive the art?

MATT GOSSER |The difference between what I do and found-object art is the importance placed on where the objects are found.  It's all about the building - exploring the building, documenting the building, salvaging artifacts from the building, and then cleaning and making art out of those artifacts.  The artists that I try to get involved in these Ar+chaeology exhibits partake in as many of these activities as they can.  I try to get them to visit the sites by giving tours but really want them to go explore on their own- forming their own impressions of the building and then documenting or scavenging how they feel fit.  Others start later in the process; receiving extra artifacts that I've already taken out of the building and cleaned.  The end result however, is usually the same - an exhibition filled with many different artists expressing through their own unique language/vision their experience with one particular building.  And that really ties the exhibition together without producing a bunch of identical artwork.

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS | What is your vision for Ar+chaeology and these projects?  What do you hope to see transformed within these realms? How does memory function within the trajectory of your work?

MATT GOSSER |I try to increase public awareness of our common architectural/industrial heritage that is, unfortunately, vanishing every year.  That includes the residents of Newark, those that work here and especially the students in our school of architecture that are going to shape the future of our built environment.  I try to provide a forum for artists in all stages of their careers to contribute toward a common goal/exhibition.  I also hope the powers that be will take a greater interest in the existing building stock that Newark has and hopefully start to rehabilitate, rather than knock down these great old buildings that we have.

As far as memory goes, our past is too important to forget.  We come from a very proud industrial heritage that valued ingenuity and efficiency.  [It's what sets] us apart as a world leader.  The problems that face us today will require us to re-learn those traits in order to survive.

About Ar+chaeology

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Ar+chaeology is a combination of found object art, urban exploration and historic preservation. Instead of buying raw materials from a store, some artists use objects they find as a way to conserve resources and create unique works of art. The key difference between found-object art and Ar+chaeology lies in the emphasis placed on where the objects were found. Ar+chaeology explore abandoned, culturally significant places searching for objects to represent that site. These artifacts are extracted, cleaned and converted into artwork meant to promote a broader appreciation of that site. In this respect, Ar+chaeology can be thought of as historic preservation with artistic license. Especially in cases where the site is facing rapid deterioration via natural elements or the wrecking ball, Ar+chaeology is the last line of defense- providing new life to abandoned objects and new meaning to the places they came from. 

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Links

Matt Gosser
www.gosser.info
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The Westinghouse Project
Participating Artists

Les Ayre, Jeanne Brasile, Phillip Buehler, Ada Caro, Jessica Dalrymple, Kevin Darmanie,
Andrew Demirjian, Anne Dushanko-Dobek, Raeford Dwyer, Rachel Ehrgood,
Chris Funkhouser, Seth Goodwin, Matthew Gosser, Carlo Grassini, Leslie Granda Hill,
William Kerr, Robert Lach, Felipe Londono, Eleonora Luongo, Rebecca Major,
Maria Mijares, Linda Morgan, Beth Ann Morrison, Marco Munoz, Sara Nordstrom,
Kathryn Okeson, William Randolph Oliwa, Alexandra Pacula, Holli Schorno,
Adejoke Tugbiyele Sedita, David Smith, Jacqueline Smith, William Smith,
Joan Sonnenfeld, Susan Stair, Charlee Swanson, Tamas Szalczer, Amanda Thackray,
Cindy Tower, Pete Tuomey, Katalin Vilim, Joe Waks, Ernest Shukara Walker, Anker West,
Troy West, Polina Zaitseva

<>RETURN TO VISIONARY ARCHIVE

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POWER TO THE PEOPLE | VISIONARY | 11| 2008
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Ella Turenne |Photo by Chris Pic

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Ella Turenne awakens souls. 

Her practice combines contemporary and academic training in the arts with a cultivated activist vision.  She humbles herself to her own practice and the sensed and documented yearnings of her people.  She teaches, organizes and practices art - building and working with community in all of these spaces – she is truly an artist by all definitions, across, culture, ethnicity and gender.

Attracting by her courageous dedication to engaging Black women’s ideologies, cosmologies, bodiesand aesthetics, she confirms that it is in fact true - we are the ones we are waiting for.

REBORN is pleased to present VISIONARY Ella Turenne.

- Noelle Lorraine Williams| VISIONARY  | A Project of REBORN

This interview was conducted by e-mail October 2008.
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POWER TO THE PEOPLE |ELLA TURENNE
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| Ella Turenne is a soul builder.
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"For me, I am looking to see how my art - whether it’s the written or spoken word, visual art, film or theatre - can illuminate an issue and propel people to action…I have faith that I can accomplish being part of the empowerment of my community through my art.  I am one piece of the puzzle; it’s through collective effort that we will get to where we want to be." - Ella Turenne
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NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS |  Your biography is a testament to your steadfast spirit.  Consistently it demonstrates adeep commitment to the craft of performance and visual art and a courageous grasp of some key issues that impact the lives people of color and consequently everyone worldwide.  What is your vision for your work in this life? What do you have faith in accomplishing?

ELLATURENNE |

My vision is really to use my art as a tool for positive social change.  I believe every artist has their own creative mission.  For some that just means expression, for others it means expression + impact...and I mean impact  towards change.  There are so many pressing issues we are dealing with -the economy, the prison crisis, a poor education system. If we go back to the days of the earliest civilizations, the artists were always respected.  Art was the way news travelled, the way people were taught to think and comment critically and I think we have gotten away from that, mainly because art has become so commodified.  For me, I am looking to see how my art - whether it’s the written or spoken word, visual art, film or theatre -can illuminate an issue and propel people to action.  As an artist, I carry my training as an activist.  It's part of me and therefore spills into mywork.  I have faith that I can accomplish being part of the empowerment of my community through my art.  I am one piece of the puzzle; it’s through collective effort that we will get to where we want to be.

I definitely have a deep commitment to my craft.  I take it very seriously.  I think natural talent is not enough.  You need to have a hunger for your craft that forces you to take it beyond talent.  I do not necessarily mean we all have to go out and get MFAs.  There are all sorts of ways artists can be trained and continue to hone their craft without having to go through the traditional education routes.  But I think if you are going to be serious about your art, you have to work at it every day.  You have to be humble enough to understand that there is always something for you to learn.  You have to be able to embrace critique.  The artists that understand this are the best artists.  You have to be passionate and breathe your art.  Edwidge Danticat said "You need a passion - one that won't be denied, that won't let you sleep, that's almost like breathing."  I came up with the slogan "Art or Die" to characterize this very idea - that art is needed for survival.
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"You have to be able to embrace critique.  The artists that understand this are the best artists.  You have to be passionate and breathe your art.  Edwidge Danticat said "You need a passion - one that won't be denied, that won't let you sleep, that's almost like breathing."- Ella Turenne

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NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS | It is always significant to me that many people are disdainful of any connection between art and politics and art and spirituality when many of the most recognized and significant African American and Latino artists do just that.  Whether it is Catlett, Baraka, Hughes, Kahlo, Rivera or Baldwin a solid commitment to understanding the contemporary yearnings and desire of various communities is integral to their practice.

In what ways are these connections organic for you?  How does a "call and response"type practice actually innovate on the production of art?

ELLA TURENNE | The connection the community - and also artists that came before you - is extremely important.  I didn't realize that until after I left undergrad.  I was a bit cocky - I thought my art could exist in a vacuum and I didn't need to know about anything that came before me.  One day someone said to me after seeing one of my paintings, "That looks like something Faith Ringgold would do."  I was embarrassed because I didn't know who she was.  I went and looked her up and I fell in love with her work.  I fell in love with her story.  And that motivated me.  I then realized that we have to know who came before us.  We have to know what their struggle was.  And that also informs what we are going through today.  How would we appreciate our voting rights if we didn't know what it took to get them?

The call and response,"Krik, Krak" is important for me.  If I am to be a vessel through which my community makes a statement, I'd better be listening to what they have to say so I don't get it twisted.  Mentors have told me,"Write what you know."  If I write what I know, then I am going to write about my experience as a Haitian woman.  I am going to write about my experience as a Black woman.  I am going to write about the young men I work with in jails.  I am going to write about the young children who I work with whose parents are incarcerated.  I am going to write about them, draw about them, act them out.  And I'm going to work with them to get their message out as well.

NOELLE LORRAINE WILLIAMS | In what ways (if any) are you influenced by traditional and contemporary artistic practices in Haiti particularly with regard to women?  Are their particular cosmologies or beliefs that inform your artistic practice?  Does this in any way influence your conception of the boundaries of the body in "real time" or interpreted through artistic practice?

ELLA TURENNE | I am influenced by Haitian art because the history of my people is in me.  It's hard to avoid.  I remember the first time I went to Haiti, I kissed the ground...I felt like I came home.  I identify strongly with the women because their work is so underrated and I have felt that at times here in the USA. Sexism doesn't disappear from country to country...it just manifests itself indifferent ways.  One of my favorite Haitian characters is Defilee LaFolle.  People thought she was crazy, but was she?  I think people always see me as "quirky," "weird," or "different." I embrace it.  Especially if that means people will pay attention.

My body in real time is extended through my artistic tools - whether is be the pen, paintbrush or camera.  And my favorite artistic form, acting, is all about the body.  Pushing the bodies inside and outside its limits. At the same time, there are things I have done that seek to push the boundaries of society's perception of women's bodies.  I went through a phase where Ionly painted people in my work nude.  And I did that because I didn't want clothes to cloud the message.  It's interesting - some of those pieces got more attention for the nudity than for the message.  As artists, wehave to remember that the interpretation will not always be what we expect.  But that's the beauty of creation.

NOELLELORRAINE WILLIAMS | Finally, what projects are you working on now or that will be debuting soon?

ELLATURENNE | Right now I am working on a one woman piece about Defilee La Folle.  I'm also working ona book of poetry and a book compilation of short stories by Haitian women.  I've got several film projects in the works as well.  I'm one of those people that likes to be busy!

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Link
Ella Turenne
www.blackwomyn.com

Sistapac
www.sistapac.com
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Biography - EllaTurenne
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ELLATURENNE | is an artist,activist and educator. Her creative work spans over 20 years as anartist.  She has been described as a “one-woman army of culture.”

Ella has been involved in the television and film industry for over ten years. Oneof her first projects was her own television talk show, The Ella Show, which at the age of 19, she starred in,directed and produced. Later she took that experience and became the host andproducer of a live talk show called Not for Nothin’ at Cambridge Community Television. Some of herfilm credits include Arrangements,woodshed, The Viagra Dialogues, One More Try and recently Big, Dark, Scary Girl, which won an experimental film award at theReel Sister’s Film Festival. In 2000, she was selected as an Actor-in-Residenceat the acclaimed International Film and Video Workshops.

Ella is also a theatre veteran, having performed in her first play at the ageof 5. She has since performed in On Striver’s Row, Raft of the Medusa, Blood Wedding, Africa Atunbi!, Shades of Blue, Love Child and most recently Come Back to Me, featured in New York’s Fresh Fruit PlayFestival. She was also seen in the Downtown Urban Theatre Festival in the play Working Things Out.

Ella has been writing for as long as she has been performing. She was an Artsand Culture Journalist with the Haitian Times for four years. She has also written articlesfor Visual Voice Magazine and Stank Magazine. As a poet, her work has been showcased in various publicationsincluding Tanbou Magazine, The Anthology of Haitian Poets in Massachusetts, The Nubian Chronicles, i got somethin' to say and most recently Check the Rhyme: AnAnthology of Female Poets and Emcees (nominated for a 2007 NAACP Image Award). In 2006, she wasselected to participate in the prestigious Cave Canem poetry workshop led byacclaimed poet, Willie Perdomo. Ella’s first book, revolution|revolisyon|révolution1804 - 2004: An Artistic Commemoration of the Haitian Revolution was published in January 2004 (Liv Lakay Publications).Her work was recently featured in Letters from Young Activists: Today’s RebelsSpeak Out. Her most recentacademic essay on murals and prisons was published in an anthology by CambridgeScholars Press. She is currently working on an anthology of short fiction byHaitian women and an empowerment book about the struggles of being a youngwoman and surviving the crucial “twenty-something” years. She is completingseveral screenplays including one that seeks to dispel myths about vodouculture. Together with Jessica Nyel Willis and Maureen Aladin,members of SistaPAC Productions (an organization she co-founded) she is in theprocess of developing several dramas, comedies and reality pilots.

Ella is also a spoken word artist and has performed nationally at venues suchas The Nuyorican Poets Café in New York City, The New Jersey Performing ArtsCenter Hip Hop Planet 2 Series and the Da’ Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles. Shewas featured on the Black Family Channel show Spoken,hosted by renowned poet Jessica Care Moore.

In addition to being a performer, Ella is a visual artist and curator. Her workhas been displayed at the Boston Center for the Arts, the Long IslandAfrican-American Museum and the Salmagundi Art House. She has co-curated theExposed, Echoes of our Ancestors and Remember Amadou exhibits. Neverlosing sight of the struggle for social justice, equality and positive socialchange, especially through the arts, Ella co-founded the SOULFINITEEntertainment Group, an organization dedicated to creating independent art. Sheis director, co-producer and actor in SOULFINITE's first independent shortfilm, woodshed,completed in 2006. woodshedwas accepted into several film festivals and received two "Best ShortFilm" nominations.  As an activist, she is an advisory board memberof the BLACKOUT Arts Collective, a grassroots organization whose mission is toempower communities of color through arts, education and activism. WithBlackout, Ella toured with Lyrics on Lockdown, a national tour where she performedand facilitated workshops educating communities about the prisonindustrial complex. She currently works with incarcerated youth and hasdeveloped arts based workshops with youth whose parents are incarcerated.

Ella is a member of the YB Literary Foundation, anorganization dedicated to promoting literacy and enhancing the readingexperience among underserved populations of students. She teaches art andactivism at New York University, where she is an adjunct professor at theGallatin School of Individualized Study. She is also a co-founder ofSistaPAC Productions, an artist collective whose mission is to pursue artisticclarity through performance and the written word. With SistaPAC, Ella hascompleted 4 short films.

Ella received her BA from Stony Brook University, majoring in psychology andminoring in studio art. She also minored in theatre arts (acting),studying with Deborah Mayo, Thomas Neumiller and John Cameron.  Ellawas awarded honors in studio art and theatre at Stony Brook.  She holds anMSW from Boston University and in 2004 was given the “OutstandingContributions to the Field of Social Work” Award. She is a trained singer anddancer, having studied tap with the likes of Savion Glover and Adele Weisntein,African Dance with Robin Gee and voice with Efrem Chanel. She also studiedacting at the Harlem Theatre Company with the great James Pringle and One onOne Productions and is a member and facilitator of the Harlem ScreenwritersWorkshop.

"I see myself as a co-creator working together with god and community to give voice to that which might otherwise lie silently on the margins of thought never to be addressed." - Rev. Shonda D. Nicholas<< MORE >>

"I feel that all these forms are similar, and that is why I chose to but them all together in this piece. I feel that they all inform each other, and help enhance my message. The ironic thing about this is we hear the call (in Music, Movies and Media), but we very rarely respond." - Michael Paul Britto www.rebornhome.com
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"I always feel that Ineed to get my work out there to remind people about their souls." -Maria Rubio<< MORE >>

VISIONARY | NYUGEN E. SMITH| 2.2008
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VISIONARY is a monthly online interview project that profiles individuals who are using culture to urgently, innovatively
and daringly re-imagine how we live this existence. Through engaging each artist’s greatest visions and deepest fears
it seeks to sustain, document, share and ultimately transform how we live and feel about community as individuals
internationally.

OFFERING is a section of VISIONARY that profiles art that is shared outside traditional gallery and museum settings. 
It seeks to document exciting and innovative work that artists and others have decided to share within free mass culture
locations including television, internet and public street spaces.

VISIONARY is a REBORN project.
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VISIT VISIONARY MAIN PAGE

VIEW OFFERING - JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT

| NYUGEN E. SMITH

 

|NYUGEN E. SMITH | OUTSIDE CULTURES            

__________________________________________________________ | Nyugen E. Smith| is a multimedia artist, curator and poet. You can find out more about his artwork at www.nyugensmith.com and his curatorial work at  www.lexleonardgallery.com.  Dismantling the boundaries between traditional mediums and audience interaction he interrogates the relationship between self, dreams, fears and environment. He will be apart of the multi-site exhibition SPRAWL, a multi-venue exhibition at the Jersey City Museum (Jersey City, NJ) opening March 20, 2008.  Please visit www.jerseycitymuseum.org for more information.  His work is currently featured in Afusion at the Brennan Courthouse (Jersey City, NJ) This interview was conducted by e-mail in November 2007. ____________________________________________________________________ "...How could I possibly depict a "sin" in a multitude of ways without having experienced them all at some point in my life...Do I repent again and again when I create the drawings? Do the final depictions of sins excite, arouse, sadden, anger me?  Then what do I do with these feelings and information...- Nyugen E. Smith, ConfeSHUNal Noelle Lorraine Williams| Recently, you were hosted in Newark, NJ at Red Saw Gallery  and at Mana Fine Arts by a group that you co-founded Rock Soup in your performance installation piece ConfeSHUNal.   Noelle Lorraine Williams|What were you hungry to explore in this piece?  Nyugen E. Smith| *With the ConfeSHUNal, I am exploring two ideas.  The first is the need to clear one's conscience of what we personally view as wrong-doings/ sins.  These wrong-doings/sins are usually concepts that have been burned into our psyche as behaviors and or thoughts that cause suffering in our current physical existence and if not atoned for while "living", will lead us to eternal suffering.  There are also internal red flags unique to each individual (not dictated by seasonal trends in religious philosophies) which gives the feeling of committing a wrongful act.  The ConFeSHUNal, prompts visitors to ponder wrong-doings and gives them a "reward" for acknowledging them.  The "reward" comes in the form of a drawing created specifically for the visitor usually within three minutes of confessing.  The other idea is the exploration and acknowledgment of my wrong-doings.   How could I possibly depict a "sin" in a multitude of ways without having experienced them all at some point in my life.  How do I feel when I create each drawing?  Do I repent again and again when I create the drawings? Do the final depictions of sins excite, arouse, sadden, anger me?  Then what do I do with these feelings and information?   Noelle Lorraine Williams |What were your needs? Nyugen E. Smith| I was in need of visitors to the ConfeSHUNal who were honest and willing to share their their need for atonement.  I needed supporters of my bearing of the Communal Cross.  By that I mean, people who delivered water, food, and other forms of sustenance to me while I was in the ConFeSHUNal booth.      Noelle Lorraine Williams| What communal needs do you feel that you were addressing in developing his work? Nyugen E. Smith| The communal needs I feel I am addressing each time I perform this piece, are: 1) the need for someone to hear internal cries for freedom of guilt 2) the need to be rewarded - no matter if it's for something "good" or "bad".  3) the need to compare possessions. (Ha!-this happens even in this situation) Those who received drawings depicting their wrong-doings showed each other and sometimes traded them.  This led me to wonder of some people share their penance with each other.  (I had to say 90 hail marys for that sin, etc.) Noelle Lorraine Williams| In what ways did people respond to the secrecy of your persona?  Do you feel that in a way it made them feel more safe and at ease? Nyugen E. Smith| Some people wanted to know who was in the ConFeSHUNal Booth.  I think this was to satisfy their curiosity as to who was "hearing" their sins, who was flogging themselves in the booth for their sins, and what does the person look like?  I do think that it did make some people feel more safe to share.  Although I did not care to know the identity of visitors, some people did want to show me the drawings they received.  It made me wonder how seriously people take the question of morality in our time.   "This performance fits in by way of steering individuals in the direction of acknowledging destructive behavioral patterns within the self which ultimately affects our immediate community and subsequently our global community."  - Nyugen E. Smith, ConfeSHUNal Noelle Lorraine Williams|How does this performance fit into the trajectory of your work? Nyugen E. Smith| This performance fits in by way of steering individuals in the direction of acknowledging destructive behavioral patterns within the self which ultimately affects our immediate community and subsequently our global community.  The seed we plant in our minds manifest themselves in physical form bearing the attributes of the same seed.    Noelle Lorraine Williams| What are your next steps? Nyugen E. Smith| My next steps are to continue this exploration by way of traveling the ConfeSHUNal and continuing to chart the results of the information (sins submitted) in the areas that the project travels to.  Also, I have now begun to explore my personal struggles with morality, judgment, and impact on my community through a new series of drawings and sculpture.  This series is titled SELF.