THE MAKING OF: JANEY NEMARD'S STANDING IN LOVE: TUSSELING WITH HARD TRUTHS
The Plantation
Insidious
Gayle McKinney-Griffith
He would have been 65 today
Lee Summers
I am a Black storyteller, a modern-day griot...
Makeup
Makeup is a ministry...
T. Popoola
It chronicles finding and accepting oneself, one shot at a time.
Escape and Distance
The stage, my artistic expression, offered me escape and distance from that reality...
Family Quilt
Family Quilt - Where there is hope, there is life...
R. Lepere
Telling the story of my Grandma and water...
Jasmine Edwards
talk about the meaning of the song to me a bit before I play...
Submission by Aunrée Jac
THE MAKING OF: JANEY NEMARD'S STANDING IN LOVE: TUSSELING WITH HARD TRUTHS Janey Nemard, young Black entrepreneur, and Black Queer filmmaker Aunrée Jacques Laurent join forces to discuss making the docu-series, Standing In Love: Tussling with Hard Truth. The docu-series focuses on Janey's journey through childhood molestation, loss of sight left eye after a fight with an abusive partner, to her finding courage to take back her life and her power. Janey's goal in sharing her story is to be seen and to expose Black communities to the cyclical trauma caused by normalizing secrets, ignoring Black children's cry for help, and remaining in abusive relationships. One of the prime intentions of this docu-series is to nurture Black wellness and teach Black communities healthy ways to thread forward.
Submission by D. Shields
The "Plantation" I was invited to visit was called "Totomoi." in Virginia. I walked the entire grounds alone... It was a horrific vista stroll. A member of the plantation family joined later and my walk ended in the small gated family graveyard. He broke down and explain the family tree. I found this tree there to reflect on the moment. He shared the slave master's “Slave” log and that this slavemaster reserved Tuesdays to beat his slaves… I silently cried on the way back to my hotel. This experience continues to haunt my soul and spirit. I am an activist, historian, and professor of Black Theatre History and Black Studies. I post free Black History... Facts... in their historical context daily. An exercise and gift of critical thinking. Researching and sharing Black History is my only intellectual freedom, from the tragic past of my African and Native Indian ancestors. *Finding and sharing light for my people. * Professor Dale Ricardo Shields Iforcolor.org
Submission by Grant Jones
"insidious!" is an unapologetic expression of Black rage at the corrosive effects of White supremacy. Additionally, this song is a recognition that systemic oppression plays out intimately and interpersonally, causing particular depths of heartache. This track supports Black emotional health by providing Black folks a space to safely and fully feel the rage and heartache engendered by White supremacy, so that we all might be one step closer to liberation.
Submission By Gayle McKinney-Griffith
In the arts, I have had the opportunity as a Black ballerina to be an original company member and first Ballet Mistress of New York City’s famed Dance Theater of Harlem. This gave me the opportunity to perform worldwide. During the Civil Rights Movement in the 60’s, my craft and support system afforded me the mental strength and fortitude to persevere against the fallacies that Blacks could not dance Ballet on professional levels. Ballet gave me the insight to my worth as an artist and stability that continues with me to this day.” -Gayle McKinney-Griffith
Photo Credit: Gayle McKinney-Griffith & Derek Williams in "Haiku" by Walter Raines, Photo by Marbeth.
Submission by Keiran Miller
This is a poem written about my father, who passed away this past April (2021). As a Black man I have seen my fair share of loss, arguably more than I should have. But nothing hurts like the loss of a parent. As a Black man, writing as been a key way for me to process, grieve and make sense of the world around me. As I continue to shape how my journey towards healing looks, I am reminded of the scores of Black people who can relate to not only my story, but the work it takes to keep one's self in tact.
Submission by Lee Summers
Submission by S. Pickens
Makeup is a ministry that affords Black people a therapeutic experience, serves as a natural mood and confidence booster and offers education.
Submission by T. Popoola
This entry represents the black experience in foreign lands and using photography as a way of coping with mental illness. It chronicles finding and accepting oneself, one shot at a time.
Submission by Todd Hunter
Escape & Distance – I often feel that no matter how repeatedly we challenge oppressions, we are still ruled by them. The stage, my artistic expression, offered me escape and distance from that reality. My artistic expression elevates me; gives me distance from the reality of this world and transports/transported me to a world where I am fully seen, heard, and felt in all my authentic glory, even if only for just those few performing moments. It recharges and restores my spirit (I am recharged and my spirit becomes restored). We are borne into such an automatic oppressive world that weights us with inequalities, inequities, injustices and struggles that we see our white counterparts will never have to endure or encounter. Through my artistic expression, I am Justifiably looked upon in admiration without having to explain my right to equal existence, when, or why I might have been made to feel unequal, or fight to explain why I am here. My artistic expression nurtures and holds tight an anchoring to my mental well-being state. I am valid. I am real. Quite honestly, I am pretty frickin’ brilliant!
Submission by Tyese Alfreda Brown
Family Quilt - Where there is hope, there is life. My mother and I made this family quilt together years ago. I sat at her feet as she instructed me to measure and cut the slivers and patches of fabric. We mapped our family story through family photos, memories, colors and textures. This quilting of memories was an enacted practice of connection, remembrance, and celebration of nearly a century of Black love and liberatory practice. The finished quilt is an embodiment of mutual aid and emotional health within my family. In my family we love on each other through our hands, making art, food, gardening, and fixing things. Love is a verb. This quilt sits on my 95 year old Grandmother's (Alfreda Johnson) couch in my hometown West Chester, PA. Although I live in Brooklyn, NY I hope to retire there one day and to possibly inherit this piece from her as a reminder of the many shoulders I stand upon.
Submission by R. Lepere
“The wild idea that animates this … is that black women are radical subjects who tirelessly imagined other ways to live and never failed to consider how the world might be otherwise.” (Hartman 2019: 8) Telling the story of my Grandma and water; I want to assert a political and ideological utility, that story is both an idea and material space. The story is a container, a space for making and creating. I want to suggest a broader story of black women and how their everyday lives and their engagement in life is a fight for decency and freedom. When one comes to learning about art and art-making in school it has always been about the power that the right frame can have in presenting and enhancing work. In my earliest memory of artmaking and creating it was situated in borders and frames or lines of demarcation. The modern sense of healing and artmaking is always associated with some sort of border. These borders are there to contain, divide, and focus our attention. Participating in the process of disrupting, and interpreting the frame of my artistic practice. I am hoping my contribution to this conversation will help us see where borders can be crossed, frames removed and stories told. When exploring my grandma’s voice; a new way of framing and understanding the world had to come through. What materials are there? What are the everyday acts that touch something deeply hidden and ineffable? What snatch of life brought healing, what riff of music illuminated a moment, what words do we miss that say so much? This is a story about a moment I had missed, but a process of healing that I carry with me. It is a vision of my snuff-smoking granny who works and heals with water. It is a story of arranging, plotting, planning, and checking, cups, glasses, bottles, baths, and buckets. A performance of the repeatable and embodied activities, and how these bodily encounters heal us.
Submission by Jasmin Edwards
I talk about the meaning of the song to me a bit before I play, but my call to sharing this cover on Juneteenth 2021 grew
out of a deep desire to connect more deeply with my lineage and the lived experiences of my ancestors. I am still on a journey of ancestor
work, which I am currently regarding as a pathway to self-understanding and strength.
