Kimberly Drew’s “ This is what I know about art” covers all the themes we have been discussing in class. Her journey illustrates what a lot of people of color feel like in most professional spaces, especially in the Arts fields. She talks about so many problems faced and finding a way to use activism to understand the role she has in the industry.
Growing up, BIPOC kids grow up with societal pressure right away. It’s so common that most people don’t even realize when they are being pressured or doing the pressuring. From families to schools, so many “For so many young people of color, we feel like we don’t have the luxury of exploring the liberal arts-society tells us that we have to take coursework to become high earners to make valuable contributions to the world.” (Drew 14). As a first-gen immigrant from Nigeria, I’ve heard it my whole life. Either you’re a doctor, engineer, or lawyer nothing else matters. Even at schools, teachers and counselors subconsciously push students further away from liberal arts and there’s not much room for self-exploration. Kimberly was an architecture major for her first 2 years in college until an internship at the studio museum in Harlem changed her outlook and she still ran into problems. Breaking the pressure and moving into fields that you want is a form of activism itself.
Another talking point is the lack of education and access to art spaces. Growing up, Kimberly’s family encouraged art and self-expression. “I enjoyed the sense of calm in each gallery. My father’s two sisters instilled a love of fine art in me, and during family gatherings, visiting a museum would usually be on the itinerary.” (Drew 13). She grew up with art and yet it wasn’t until she was later that she truly learned about all the numerous black artists and black art forms. For a lot of black people, it’s the same issue. You don’t really get to learn about the contribution of people that look like you and the importance, sometimes it’s completely skipped over in school. “There have been Black people since the beginning of time, but I was not seeing any of their art in any of my classes. How would I find more artists like Basquiat, Hancock, Simpson, or Ligon?”
(Drew, 21). Kimberly later creating her blog gave access to people to learn about these artists. A really underrated part of activism is creating access and education for people who need it because to challenge the status quo, the masses need to understand what has been kept from them and holding them back. Another part of the lack of access is unwelcoming in art spaces. “Engaging with my brilliant mother in a space from which, for whatever reason, she had been excluded complicated the way that I viewed art museums. On one hand, I immediately realized that my mother was part of a majority of Black people who do not frequent museums.”. For many people of color, it’s not like they wouldn’t like to visit museums and galleries but these spaces can be unwelcoming because they don’t appeal to them due to the lack of representation in the museum and gallery spaces.
Kimberly talked about the microaggression she faces all throughout. Like having a discussion in her art history class, instead of an intellectual debate about the, it became a pity party. Furious by this, she took her anger to social media which led to a heated scolding by her professor on how it somewhat made her white classmates feel uncomfortable (Drew, 28-30). The same thing happened while she was working at another gallery, the news of Michael Brown had broken and everyone acted like it was taboo to talk about or even have a reaction, after lashing out again of social media and having her thought picked up magazines she was summoned boss who explained to her how powerful her voice is and instead of leading with rage, she had to channel it strategically and this is where she began to understand her activism.
“It was images, sculptures, and writing that helped me wade through the anger I was feeling (drew 50)” For so many people of color, there is no luxury if lashing out against the status quo. The consequences are far greater than their white counterparts so they have to use other means in understanding and channeling their anger like Kimberly had to. Memes have been an important topic in class. Memes are now a coping mechanism to how people react to things, especially in the social media age. But today, a new medium of protest art is reigning: memes. Simple to make and simpler to distribute, they can communicate a stance or message at a glance and express the same feelings experts say are behind conventional protest art. There’s even an emerging genre within the landscape experts are calling “activist memes.” (Lazzaro)
A lot of people get their information through memes. It’s very simplistic but breakdown everything and makes it easy to understand. “The ability for the meme to empower and push back can be really powerful. They’re definitely sites of resistance against perceptions of abuse of power. They spread so quickly and evolve and transform, and it’s hard to shut them down in the way other forms of communicative protest can be silenced.”. (Lazzaro)
Activism comes in many forms, not everyone can do everything but understanding where your lane is impactful. “Protest is way more complicated than communicating rage. Small actions foster change. Our activism, like any other part of ourselves, develops into something bigger than a singular experience. Activism is a collective action (drew 63)”. Not everyone can in the front lines of protest, understanding where you can be the most impactful is really important. A lot happened this summer, I felt drained after a while but seeing what trump said about young people protesting for their right to live enraged me and I had to do something, I couldn’t do much, but showing up to protests and amplifying them with my photography is what I can do.
.“Art and protest will forever be bound together. And the beautiful thing about art, like activism, is that it allows us space to be curious and learn. Sharing art has helped me learn how to make my voice heard and ask better questions. If being in the arts has taught me anything, it is that one of the wisest things anyone can say is “I don’t know.”
(Drew, 8)”
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