Project / Blackgold
Tagline/Mantra / Refining the crude / Evil be to he who thinks evil of
Process / Images are selected based on their association with taboo, stigmatized, violent, dangerous or crude activities typically performed by certain minority or oppressed populations. The artist primarily works from photographs and uses graphite and/or colored pencil on high quality watercolor or printmaking paper (Arches hot press 640gsm, Somerset Velvet) or oil paint on cotton or linen canvases.
Intention/Concept / The idea with this project is to shift the way we view images from activities typically seen as crude to create higher value or respect through a process of appropriation. Dominant themes are: gender and race oppression in the form of pornography, sex work, drugs, African and African American exploitation leading to criminal behaviour, and other marginalized cultural activities.
Meaning / Without the support, resources, opportunities and options typically afforded to the prototypical American white male, being a minority of any sort can often times be limiting and frustrating trying to get ahead. A black man living in the inner city has few options when the education system fails them. Basketball, football, rap, hip-hop dancing, are all lucrative black dominant activities, but the chances of making a professional career out them are few and far between. Many blacks often turn to dealing drugs and gang banging when their dreams of the limelight fade out. A woman who is hard on her luck may use her body and sexuality to make ends meet. Stripping, pornography and prostitution become viable yet degrading and even dangerous options.
What all the above activities have in common is that they stem from primitive, natural, uncivilized, instinctual—in other words “crude”—behaviours. In most cases though, all that makes these activities taboo is our attitude towards them. Certain religions may paint a picture of women engaging in prostitution as being “sinners” or slut shame, but in historical Japan the idea of a Geisha was not seen as Shinto taboo. Topless strippers may be degraded and ashamed by their work while topless fashion or swimsuit models receive high praise for selling sexuality. Slinging black market drugs imprisons a disproportionate number of black males, yet the pharmaceutical industry thrives in their legal version of the same market.
The Blackgold project explores the process of shifting the one’s gaze from something preconceived as crude, to viewing the exact same thing as refined. The big question is why does society favor certain behaviours while stigmatizing others? I feel that many of these hypocrisies arise from a fear of minorities disrupting the current status quo power dynamic. For example, certain drugs like alcohol and tobacco cause just as much if not more harm than marijuana, cocaine, opium and psychedelics, yet the association of marijuana with Mexicans (all Mexicans are crazy campaign), cocaine with blacks (the black menace), opium with the Chinese (the yellow menace), and psychedelics with the countercultural hippie movement, has led to the prohibition of these substances.
The same argument could be made for why we view sex work negatively, that is, to keep women disempowered. We must pose the question, is consensual sex between two adults intrinsically bad or do the negative, hostile and dangerous working conditions of sex work originate simply from the act being perceived as negative beforehand—self-fulfilling prophecy style? What would happen if prostitution were legalized and along with pornography, no longer stigmatized? What if prostitution were to be viewed as a legitimate career path with health insurance packages, retirement plans and respected status? Would this empower women in the same way fashion models, singers and actresses use sexual appeal to get ahead?
Women are naturally the more attractive and desired of the sexes and we ought not penalize them for using this to their advantage if they wish to do so. Blacks make up a huge population of our most popular sports yet how much of the generated wealth goes back into improving the inner city conditions from which many of these athletes come from? Following the lead of artists such as Kehinde Wiley, the Blackgold project is about turning the tables and taking the power back. It’s about having more respect and less exploitation for acts that women and minority groups engage in and excel at. It’s about certain marginalized groups creating their own definitions of class, sophistication, status and power instead of being pawns that play into the hands of the patriarchal hegemony.
Favorite Aspects / Exploring the many facets of culture that don’t get mainstream attention. From trying to understand the dynamics of the sex work industry, to black market mechanics, militia activity, darknet subculture, to discovering artistic subgenres of music such as shoegaze, or robust subcultures within music festival scene similar to Burning Man among others.