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Igna Simonreal “Pandora’s Box”

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Blackness as an aesthetic: Spotted this gem at the new Whole Foods on H Street, NE in Washington, DC. For many who don’t know the history of this space, H Street was one of the three corridors rocked by the 1968 uprisings following MLK’s assassination. Now it is one of the most rapidly gentrifying (gentrified) neighborhoods in DC. There are so many layers embedded within this image as it relates to the changing demographics of the first “Chocolate City:” the presence and absence of blackness in this previously underserved “riot corridor;” the introduction of two large grocery stores within two blocks of each other, while the poorest and blackest wards in the city experience sub-optimal food options; and so on. The “Chocolate City” moniker was adopted as a sense of pride in the face of horrifying political and economic conditions faced by Black folk in the mid-20th century. This display says so much about the ways that social and political histories are casually decontextualized in the service of capital.

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Texture in Abstract

Fresh off of his astounding piece featured at the Venice Biennale this year, artist Mark Bradford’s newest work at the Hirshhorn Museum of Washington, D.C. is certain to be just as memorable. The piece, Pickett’s Charge, is composed of abstract images spread over eight canvases. The combined canvases are organized into a nearly 400-ft cyclorama (360-degree panoramic image) that wraps around the third floor of the museum. Pickett’s Charge, Bradford’s most massive artwork to date, deals with the legacy of the Civil War and is an abstract, visual reflection of the battles still being waged over the meaning of the war in the U.S. The work is inspired by French artist Paul Philippoteaux’s The Battle of Gettysburg (1883), a cyclorama that depicts the iconic encounter. Bradford’s creation is a reference to the failed attack, Pickett’s Charge, led by the Confederate Army.

The relevance of this piece is surely not lost on those of us who have been paying attention to media accounts of the fight over Confederate iconography in public spaces and on university campuses. In many of the Southern states, where these battles are taking place, the Confederate narrative has dominated discourses about memory and race, while the history of slavery and violence against African Americans has been largely underdeveloped.

Bradford, a former L.A. hairstylist, is an astute creator who is known for salvaged materials to produce masterful, abstract pieces. Abstractionism as a practice presumes that the most “realistic” representation is just that: a representation. Therefore, abstract art necessarily exists at a distance from social reality and emphasizes artifice, regardless of whether it is derived from a reference from the real world. So, the power of abstract art like Bradford’s is that it makes us question what is natural, true, and authentic -- including and especially our collective history.

Pickett’s Charge is truly stunning work. Something to be experienced in person. And while it is Bradford’s attempt to revisit and challenge the meaning of a decisive moment in America’s history, his work also speaks to black cultural practice -- taking something that has been discarded and reimagining it as something new and different; infusing it with value. Bradford takes iconic, romanticized imagery from battle, and seamlessly challenges historical narratives that have been contested over time, through collage, cutting, shredding, torching, and tearing, adding ropes and cords. The result is his production of new textures that reflect the very complexity of our history.

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#fashion #glory

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Willow

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Style Diaries from JRP&V on Vimeo.

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W Magazine-August 2015 || Photographer: Emma Summerton

©

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Photo: Hollie Carlin Photography & Grace Carlin

Stylist: Emma Breden

Ballad Of Magazine

Jade Thompson

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Betty Adewole by Tom Ford for the Tom Ford Beauty Collection Spring/Summer 2014 Campaign

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Erykah Badu for Givenchy

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Anais Mali