#1960now

[federer7]

“#SayHerName (Young Man Crying),” from “#1960Now” series, 2016

Photo: Sheila Pree Bright

[supportblackart]

Sheila Pree Bright @shepreebright 📸 “Untitled 14”, from the Plastic Bodies series. We’re happy and honored to reveal our membership postcard for June! Sheila Pree Bright is an Atlanta-based, award winning American fine-art photographer known for her photographic series Young Americans, Plastic Bodies, Suburbia, and her most recent work, #1960now.  “Untitled 14” is from Sheila’s 2003 series “Plastic Bodies”, which shows the impact that media and advertising play in defining beauty for girls and women and how Barbie is used in Western culture to encourage one standard of beauty. Postcards have been sent out and our last batch was sent today! Feel free to tag us in photos of you with your postcards so we can share them in our stories. Also be sure to follow Sheila @shepreebright and continue to support her work! #SupportBlackArt #SheilaPreeBright #PlasticBodies #BlackWomenPhotographers #PutYourMoneyWhereYourMouthIs https://www.instagram.com/p/CCUGNtWB5id/?igshid=1i7hjtorvaob0

[trascapades]

📱📸 #ArtIsAWeapon #IGTakeover #ArtistTalk Photographic artist @shepreebright will takeover @supportblackart 's @instagram today - tune into their IG LIVE at 6PM EST. Check out Sheila's book @1960now "#1960Now: Photographs of Civil Rights Activists and Black Lives Matter Protests” and her other stunning work at www.sheilapreebright.com . #SupportBlackArt #SheilaPreeBright #PhotographicArtist #photography #BlackWomenPhotographers #ATLartist #BlackPhotographers #Grillz #PlasticBodies #Suburbia #YoungAmericans #PhotoSeries #WomenArtists #TraScapades #ArtIsAWeapon #BlackGirlArtGeeks🤓 https://www.instagram.com/p/B-rxBdPgWm2/?igshid=434i5sg2f5p6

[icphoto]

Acclaimed photographer Sheila Pree Bright will be at the #ICPMuseum tonight! Her work is featured in the “Black Lives (Have Always) Mattered” section of #PerpetualRevolution. http://buff.ly/2lLIClI  📷 Sheila Pree Bright, #1960Now: Art + Intersection, [Still], 2015 Video

[underexposedlive]

My copy of @shepreebright’s book #1960nowthebook arrived in the mail today! #sheilapreebright #photographer #1960now https://www.instagram.com/p/BpDTmiOD0eN/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=11z6nxl3wc0zn

[annelart]

#Repost @spelmanmuseum ・・・ Collection Spotlight | Sheila Pree Bright, "Suburbia" Sheila Pree Bright (@shepreebright, American, b. 1967) is an Atlanta-based, award-winning fine art photographer nationally known for her photographic series Young Americans, Plastic Bodies, Suburbia, 1960 Who, and #1960Now. Bright is described as a “social cultural anthropologist” whose works combine a wide range of contemporary culture including photographic portrayals and provocative commentary on American beauty standards, urban and suburban themes, citizenship, and social movements. Suburbia is a nuanced and self-reflective meditation on race and class in the suburbs that focuses exclusively on the homes of African Americans. This body of work disrupts the American media’s projection of the “typical” African American community and depicts a more realistic and common ideology of African American life. Suburbia also examines the variations and similarities of an existence that subverts lifestyle and culture, particularly as it relates to Americanism. In 2006 Bright won the Santa Fe Prize from the Santa Fe Center for Photography for this extensive series. Sheila Pree Bright is currently documenting the protests and youth leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement in the series #1960Now and is incorporating the moving image and archival materials. #BlackWomenArtists #SpelMuse20 #BeYourOwnMuse #Permanent Collection Image: Sheila Pree Bright (American, b. 1967) Untitled #5, #3, #28 (from the Suburbia series), 2008, Chromogenic prints, 15 x 15 Acquisitions Initiative Purchase, 2012.2, 2012.1, 2012.9 COLLECTIONS SPOTLIGHT The Spelman College permanent collection dates to the 1940s and includes more than 350 objects. The growing collection also includes African art and works by celebrated artists of African descent. To honor its unique mission, the Museum acquires art that highlights the wide spectrum of works that women artists of the African Diaspora create. Look forward to a monthly inside peek on a work from the College’s permanent collection. (at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art)

[africaforecast-blog]

Collection Spotlight | Sheila Pree Bright, "Suburbia" Sheila Pree Bright (@shepreebright, American, b. 1967) is an Atlanta-based, award-winning fine art photographer nationally known for her photographic series Young Americans, Plastic Bodies, Suburbia, 1960 Who, and #1960Now. Bright is described as a “social cultural anthropologist” whose works combine a wide range of contemporary culture including photographic portrayals and provocative commentary on American beauty standards, urban and suburban themes, citizenship, and social movements. Suburbia is a nuanced and self-reflective meditation on race and class in the suburbs that focuses exclusively on the homes of African Americans. This body of work disrupts the American media’s projection of the “typical” African American community and depicts a more realistic and common ideology of African American life. Suburbia also examines the variations and similarities of an existence that subverts lifestyle and culture, particularly as it relates to Americanism. In 2006 Bright won the Santa Fe Prize from the Santa Fe Center for Photography for this extensive series. Sheila Pree Bright is currently documenting the protests and youth leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement in the series #1960Now and is incorporating the moving image and archival materials. #BlackWomenArtists #SpelMuse20 #BeYourOwnMuse #Permanent Collection Image: Sheila Pree Bright (American, b. 1967) Untitled #5, #3, #28 (from the Suburbia series), 2008, Chromogenic prints, 15 x 15 Acquisitions Initiative Purchase, 2012.2, 2012.1, 2012.9 COLLECTIONS SPOTLIGHT The Spelman College permanent collection dates to the 1940s and includes more than 350 objects. The growing collection also includes African art and works by celebrated artists of African descent. To honor its unique mission, the Museum acquires art that highlights the wide spectrum of works that women artists of the African Diaspora create. Look forward to a monthly inside peek on a work from the College’s permanent collection. (at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art)

[nyfacurrent]

Creative Careers | Tools for Creative Activism from Curatorial Organizer La Tanya S. Autry

“My real talk: Believe in yourself. You have a right to be there.” - La Tanya S. Autry

As a cultural organizer in the visual arts, La Tanya S. Autry focuses on social justice and public memory in her work. In addition to co-creating The Art of Black Dissent, an interactive program that promotes public dialogue about the African-American liberation struggle, she co-founded the #MuseumsAreNotNeutral initiative, which calls for an equity-based transformation of museums, and the Social Justice and Museums Resource List, a crowd-sourced bibliography. Autry can be found online with the project name Artstuffmatters on WordPress, Twitter, and Instagram.

We spoke with Autry about her vision for the future of museums, the power of social media for artists, curators, and organizers, and the ways in which we can all lead and push for change.

NYFA: What prompted you, along with Mike Murawski, to launch the "Museums are Not Neutral" campaign?

La Tanya S. Autry: Our #MuseumsAreNotNeutral initiative grew from a shared concern about the dominance of the neutrality claim in the field. In my own experience, I have encountered art museum professionals, with advanced level degrees, making statements such as “the museum has to be neutral” or “we can’t be political” to deflect calls to address racism. Those assertions are false because they decontextualize the origins and practices of museums. While Murawski and I do not suggest institutions adopt partisan views, we wanted to make a clear stand against the myth of neutrality. We also wanted to encourage more people in the field, as well as visitors, students, educators, and others, to acknowledge the truth. Since August 2017, when we launched our campaign which supports community-centered social progress, hundreds of people in the U.S. and abroad have joined us. As all the profits from sales of our “Museums Are Not Neutral” shirts go to charitable organizations, our global initiative has raised over $13,000, while sparking much needed public discussion about the histories, functions, and possibilities of museums.

NYFA: How do you use social media in your activism and career?

LSA: Years ago I participated in a workshop on public engagement strategies at the University of Delaware, where I am completing my doctorate in art history. Through that program, I started using social media as a means for sharing my research beyond academic spaces. That role is still important to me; however, I quickly found that these digital networks are useful for thinking and planning in public. For me, Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms have been instrumental tools for expanding my knowledge and collaborating with various artists, educators, museum professionals, and others who are committed to the arts, the humanities, and social progress. The Social Justice and Museums Resource List, an open crowd-sourced bibliography of over 40 pages, is one of the collaborative projects that I have developed through engagement with social media. 

For inspiration, I’d like to share some of my favorite initiatives, makers and thinkers, and organizations. You can refer to this Twitter list to find those who are active on that platform. Many of the accounts that inspire me are present on Instagram as well as Twitter, though some are only present on Instagram, like Bisa Butler, Delphine Adama Fawundu, Toyin Ojih Odutola, The Black School, and Erykah Antiy Killmonger. Additionally, you can follow the hashtags #BlkTwitterstorians, #1960Now, #SlaveryArchive, #MuseumsRespondToFerguson, and #MASSActionMIA. 

NYFA: What kind of museum space should the cultural sector work towards?

LSA: There are important measures underway to make museums more welcoming spaces to broader demographics. I’d love to see more of a central focus on equity, which calls for structural change. An equity-based approach would identify and dismantle the power relations that have created inequalities in museums. This focus addresses root causes, not only the symptoms. 

I believe that having more museum board members and executive staff who are committed to anti-racism and anti-oppression could promote deep change and foster caring environments. Here, I'm thinking of hiring practices and training opportunities, as well as functions related to collections, exhibitions, programs, interpretation, conservation, editorial, accessibility, development, and security. Also, the field would experience substantive positive change if more museum professionals and philanthropic organizations recognized and financially supported the longstanding anti-racist, anti-oppression work that many ethnic-specific institutions have done over the years.

NYFA: You’ve said on the podcast Museopunks that if we see ourselves as creative agents for change we can make that change happen in many small ways, and can encourage other people to do that work. What are some ways to make change and mobilize others?

LSA: Yes, I think individual efforts are just as vital as institutional changes. Each of us can educate ourselves by engaging with the histories of the field, reading literature about current practices, social justice histories, theories, and practices. Listening to, citing, and supporting the perspectives of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian, LGBTQ, and disabled communities are important pathways. Collaborating and building solidarity across racial, ethnic, class, gender, and other social forces is necessary for seeing beyond existing frameworks. No matter our status level, we can each be a leader of change, and we can share our experiences with others through public presentations, publishing blog posts and articles, and posting reflections and resources via social media. While “going public” helps us find collaborators, we also learn more about the field and methods for generating social change. It empowers us.

NYFA: What's your advice for those entering the curatorial field, especially if they identify with a group, or groups, widely underrepresented in the field?

LSA: When I started taking classes in museum studies and working in the field, no one mentioned the difficulties I might encounter as a Black woman from a working class background going into the predominately white and economically-privileged world of art museums. So I am always happy to assist others entering this arena. 

I don’t use the word underrepresented as it’s misleading. Instead, I use the term historically excluded as Simone Austin, an MA student in history at the University of Delaware, suggested in a tweet last spring. The problem has not been that people of color and other groups have not shown up. We’ve been excluded from the field for a long time. In addition to being mindful of the language we employ because it shapes our thinking and actions, it’s crucial to study the history of museums. We need to know what came before, what’s happening now, what the visions for museums are, and who’s shaping the field. People who are from groups who have been excluded need to brace themselves for racism and other biases. These things shouldn’t happen, but they do.

My real talk: Believe in yourself. You have a right to be there. Connect with people across the institution in various roles and in the broader community. Analyze biases so you can both deconstruct and address them. Spend time dreaming about what you’d like to create. Strategize the steps needed to actualize your vision. Figure out who can help you get there. Value your relationships with people. Search for respectful and kind mentors who care about your well-being and professional development. Always remember your communities. Find ways to welcome them and others in the museum sphere.  

- Interview conducted by Mirielle Clifford, Program Officer, Online Resources

This post is part of a regular blog series, NYFA Creative Careers. Find new and exciting career and artist opportunities on NYFA Classifieds. To read more articles on building your professional artist career, visit the Business of Art section of NYFA’s website. Sign up for NYFA News and receive artist resources and upcoming events straight to your inbox.

Images: La Tanya S. Autry and Mike Murawski, Museums Are Not Neutral, August 2017, composite Instagram image, August 2018, Courtesy: La Tanya S. Autry; and La Tanya S. Autry and Gabriella Svenningsen, The Art of Black Dissent, 2017, Institute Library, New Haven, CT, featuring works from left to right: Eric Etheridge, 1961 Freedom Riders, 2010, print; Ricardo Levin Morales, Trayvon Martin, digital print, 2013; Ricardo Levin Morales, We Are the Mainstream, digital print, 2014; Photo Courtesy: La Tanya S. Autry.

[livinginlandmarketing]

The Riverside Art Museum continues to connect the community through art and to look toward to the future.

For over 50 years, the Riverside Art Museum has introduced the community to traditional and contemporary art through exhibitions of world-renowned artists as well as local and young aspiring artists. The museum also offers quality art classes throughout the year, creating a deeper connection to art in youth and adults.

County restrictions have made offering the community a direct connection to art difficult, but this has not stopped the museum’s staff from finding inventive solutions.

Riverside Art Musuem Art Education Coordinator, Bethany Molyneaux teaches a virtual art lesson. (Photo courtesy of Riverside Art Museum)

“We are the organization that could,” Executive Director Drew Oberjuerge said. “There is not one aspect of our mission-driven work we aren’t still doing, even during COVID and our mandatory closure of our building.”

The museum’s art education team has continued to provide classes to students throughout the pandemic. The organization’s Art-to-Go program, which works with the Riverside Unified School District, quickly transitioned to a virtual platform. Community youth education programs have also continued virtually.

In addition, the museum introduced KickstART Kits for youths between 5 and 12. Each kit includes instructions and supplies for five art projects. Kit themes include Animals, Art Around the World, Oceans of Fun, Desert and Winter, and they can be purchased on the museum’s website. There is also an option to donate a kit to at-risk youth.

The museum has organized several virtual exhibitions that are available on its website. A highlight includes Sheila Pree Bright’s “#1960Now,” which featuring Bright’s journey documenting the responses to police shootings in Atlanta, Ferguson, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and Baton Rouge. Her work shows young social activists taking a stand against the same struggles their parents and grandparents endured during the era of Jim Crow.

The museum has also taken art outside. From Oct. 31 to Nov. 7, an altar for Dia De Los Muertos was constructed by artists Cosme Cordova and Martin Sanchez with Eric Martinez, a museum staff member, on the facility’s front lawn. The community was invited to bring items in tribute to those they have lost during the coronavirus pandemic, placing them on the altar.

The Art Alliance Gallery currently features an exhibition by Sheila Pree Bright called “#1960Now.”(Photo courtesy of Riverside Art Museum)

In October, the museum unveiled the University and Park Avenue Mural Project at Arci’s Candy. The museum received 70 applications for artists in an open call, choosing six artists with input from the community. The mural celebrates the story and diversity of the Eastside neighborhood.

“The Riverside Art Museum is committed to serving the community and making sure the arts are inspiring and connecting people including during challenges like COVID,” Oberjuerge said. “Our doors are closed, but that doesn’t mean we’ve packed it up.”

Recently, the museum received a grant through the Inland Empire Community Foundation. The museum is an independent non-profit facility that relies on donations and grants. Admissions, sales, class fees, and facility rentals also support its operations, income that has been impacted by the shutdown.

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While the museum remains temporarily closed, it continues to look to the future. The museum plans to open as soon as restrictions are lifted and resume its in-person offerings.

The museum is also working toward the opening of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum. The center, which was proposed by the city of Riverside in partnership with RAM and Cheech Marin would transform the old Main Library building and convert it into a vibrant arts center housing Cheech Marin’s collection of Chicano art. The collection is expected to draw patrons from all over the world to downtown Riverside.

“The Riverside Art Museum — with our long history of being an independent non-profit through the good times and bad, and now with The Cheech — is a great example of what our community can accomplish together when we believe in what we do,” Oberjuerge said. “We believe that art inspires and builds community and we have never stopped.”

Information: http://www.riversideartmuseum.org/  or info@riversideartmuseum.org

Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy.

-on January 15, 2021 at 08:00AM by Rebecca K. O'Connor

[socialine]

An Intimate Look At The Activists Involved In The Black Lives Matter Movement

An Intimate Look At The Activists Involved In The Black Lives Matter Movement

Raquel Willis and Taliba Obuya

Sheila Pree Bright via Chronicle Books

Raquel Willis is an activist for transgender rights. Taliba Obuya is an activist with the Malcolm X Grassroots movement.

The work by Atlanta-based photographer Sheila Pree Bright could not be more relevant today. Her book #1960Now: Photographs of Civil Rights Activists and Black Lives Matter…

[hulusan]

Capturing the Struggle for Racial Equality, Past and Present

By MAURICE BERGER Sheila Pree Bright chronicles the longstanding and continuing legacy of black activism in her new book, “#1960Now.” Published: October 15, 2018 at 03:30AM from NYT Lens https://ift.tt/2OVrb0B

[miss-rosen]

HONORING THOSE WHO GIVE THEIR LIVES TO FIGHT THE POWER. IN PHOTOS Miss Rosen for Feature Shoot

On November 27, Ferguson activist Bassem Masri was found unconscious on a bus in suburban St. Louis. Just 31 at the time of his death, Masri is the latest untimely death of local activists who have passed in sudden and mysterious ways.

Many will remember the murder of Deandre Joshua, just 20 years old, when his body was found with a gunshot to the head inside his car, which had been set on fire during the height of the protests against the extrajudicial assassination of Mike Brown at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson.

Then in 2016, the body of Darren Seals, 26, was found — the same manner of killing exacted upon one of the most prominent activists in the movement. But the deaths did not end there. In 2017, Edward Crawford, 27, was found shot to death in the backseat of his car, and just as recently as October 17, Ferguson activist Melissa McKinnies discovered her son, Danye Jones, 24, lynched in her backyard.

On December 3, HBO premiered Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland, a documentary film that asks, “What really happened to Black Lives Matter activist Sandra Bland?” In her death, Bland became a symbol of all that the government has done — and the ways in which the true story is hidden from view.

During the height of the protest movement, there were often photographs of men, women, and children holding signs asking, “Am I Next?” It is difficult to ignore this question paging through the book, #1960Now: Photographs of Civil Rights Activists and Black Lives Matter Protests (Chronicle) by Sheila Pree Bright, a selection of which are currently on view in Radical Lens at Clark Atlanta University Art Museum through May 31, 2019.

Read the Full Story at Feature Shoot

Photo: Sheila Pree Bright. 2015, Justice League NYC’s “March 2 Justice” from New York to Washington, DC, in protest of police brutality.

[supportblackart]

via @iradotson ✨ Fine Arts Photographer Sheila Pree Bright @shepreebright @1960now murals are being completed today Saturday Feb. 2nd, 2019. Just in time for Superbowl LIll (53) Feb. 3rd, 2019. Come take a knee for justice for all Americans in front these history making murals. We The People love you unconditionally💯%❤🇺🇸🗿✔ Located at 190 Pryor Street at the corner of Trinity in the parking lot around the corner from the police station, courthouse, jail and the City Capital. . . #supportblackart #sheilapreebright #photography #mural #atlanta #atlart #atlartist #blackart #takeaknee (at Atlanta, Georgia) https://www.instagram.com/p/BteVueqBJrh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1l7lzon4x16bw

[burhanidrees]

Capturing the Struggle for Racial Equality, Past and Present Sheila Pree Bright chronicles the longstanding and continuing legacy of black activism in her new book, “#1960Now.” . via NYT Lens

[andongaustin]

Capturing the Struggle for Racial Equality, Past and Present Sheila Pree Bright chronicles the longstanding and continuing legacy of black activism in her new book, “#1960Now.” . via NYT Lens

[topnewsfromtheworld]

Capturing the Struggle for Racial Equality, Past and Present

By MAURICE BERGER Sheila Pree Bright chronicles the longstanding and continuing legacy of black activism in her new book, “#1960Now.” Published: October 15, 2018 at 01:00AM from NYT Lens https://ift.tt/2OVrb0B