An ongoing collection of articles, book and exhibition reviews
Parables of Nana: Genesis Tramaine
Trained as an educator and mathematician, her aesthetic is not shaped by the formalism of art school theories or practices. And, contrary to mathematics in which the physical world is defined, Tramaine paints the framework for the spiritual world she feels and the sounds she sees. This is evident in the repetitive iconography and patterning in her work. She says, “In math you have to prove your work, but I never could do it because it came to me through spirit.”
Blackface: A Reclamation of Beauty, Power, and Narrative
Currently ‘blackface’ has been used to describe a white adult performing a nauseatingly racist caricature of a black person; to a pair of pre-teen girls who never heard the word ‘minstrelsy’ when experimenting with costume makeup at a sleep over– yet ‘blackfaced’ faces continue to be unsettling. Since the 19th century a montage of caricaturized images of black and brown faces, from movies, books, cartoons and posters have been ever present in the memories of all American children.