Art and Power: Redefining Identities

Constructing an identity is like putting together a puzzle there’s no reference for. As humans, we grow by imitating what feels like parts of us that we infer from the world. The reality is that identity is a lot harder to construct than a simple puzzle. Our identity is a construct based on what we receive as automatic information we receive from birth- the skin colors that feel safe based upon the skin color of the people who raise us. The religious rites we are initiated into by our caretakers, the languages we hear, the words we are called by and even the inflections in our names are little pieces in the ambiguous puzzle that creates an identity. To construct identity is to literally create a mosaic of experience, imitation, inference, sensory input, ideas, and ideals, that represent what, who and why we are to the world and most importantly–this construct justifies who we are to ourselves. Art, being a vehicle for expression, creates the perfect opportunity to construct (or deconstruct) the assemblages we each create of our identity.

Exhibitions that give us insight into identity and how it constructs our knowledge and acceptance of constructs include the present exhibition at the Montclair Museum of Art (MAM.) Three works that really stood out to me in our conversation of identity include Ben Jones Never Forget, Lorna Simpson’s Coiffure, Ma Pe Wi’s Animal Dancers, Kehinde Wiley’s Matar Mbaye, Bisa Washington’s Never Forget.

Ben Jones Never Forget, really stood out because it challenges the notions of what gender, race, and age are supposed to be accepted as in our society. Traditionally African American men are portrayed as insensitive, distant, violent, and as perpetrators. Ben Jones challenges these notions by highlighting the way we need to be fulfilled in different dimensions of existence. For example, he names areas of fulfillment through health, spirituality, sexual healing, freedom, political freedom, to name a few. The paths then proceed to converge into a neuron-like mesh of networks that show how interconnected al those paths are in leading to the next panel–Jones (humanity.) The final panel represents something akin to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and black enlightenment as the palette reminisces of the Pan-African movement. What is exceptionally beautiful about the work, is its ability to deliver the message from the mouth of someone traditionally kept from being seen as a source of guidance (Jones, an African American man.)

Another work that is truly remarkable in its internal conflict with identity constructs is Lorna Simpson’s Coiffure. The work depicts the significance of African American heritage that is woven through braids. American history has traditionally crucified Black women for their Blackness. This can be seen from the radical societal norm that comes with the tradition of perming and straightening natural hair. The image depicts the picture of a woman who gives us her back–she is all African American and African Women who decide to grow their hair. At the same time, she is separated into her hair and into an African Mask– the beauty of her culture and tradition all woven into the lineage of tradition that comes from African spirituality and generational identity.

Below the image, there are instructions for upkeep and creation of the braids. This is essential to the work as natural hair has been braided throughout history to protect the delicate texture of natural hair. The braids exemplify dignity, care, love, tradition and intergenerational love between the person braiding and the person whose hair is being braided. The very essence of the experience is one of love within a culture as it is intimate, a source of building integrity, and even connection–all three being facets of love and tenderness usually stripped from African American and African women (men and children also) who are constantly told to deny their existence in their construct by destroying their hair to fit into the mainstream sea of whiteness and white acceptance..

As we go into the destruction of constructs and how that affects our identity, another painting that comes us to further the issue is Ma Pe Wi’s Animal Dancers. The drawing is beautiful to us as observers. As we are invited into a scene that does not belong to us, his own people strip him of parts of his identity for allowing us–strangers, colonists, outsiders– to witness such a large part of his history. Whereas Jones and Simpson’s work was meant to include us in their narrative, Ma Pe Wi’s Animal Dancers was seen as a violation by his people (Pueblo.) Here we are able to observe how our identity can become fractured when we act against the norms of our culture. Native Americans have a long history of abuse, segregation, violation, and appropriation of their culture used against them. His idea to inform the outside of the beauty of his culture, felt more like an added insult to injury to his people instead of appreciation and reclaiming of their narrative.

To further the weaving between culture and identity, Kehinde Wiley's Matar Mbaye is a beautiful portrayal of a young adult African man. The man’s surroundings are painted in an almost Byzantine style with beautiful flowers that circle him in a divine fashion that reminisces of black men inhabiting the garden of Eden. Wiley’s connection with this young man is one of the split paths. One man suffered through the recollection of his roots in slavery and the other recollection of being a man in a place the world has largely written off in spite of its exceptional richness and diversity. Matar Mbaye seeks to confront you with divinity instead of the preconceived of western blackness that denotes black men as less than. He is divine–and that is irrevocably established.

Lastly, Bisa Washington’s Never Forget denotes an aspect of African American identity that largely reflects the resilience of African Americans in the face of the still lingering aftermath of slavery. The image circles with “The power of love in the face of senseless cruelty.” It spins over and over as it enters into the depths of a person whose image is portrayed as a slave. I found this image heartbreakingly strong. African Americanism is largely centered upon the struggle of going from slavery into a subculture that is constantly appropriated. Bisa’s work strips the notion of a dehumanized African and or African American who endured the savage cruelty of slavery as a person and transforms it into the love and power as a whole nation.

In conclusion, identity, gender, and the constructs created by them can be contextualized as part of the human experience. To put it plainly, we are our stories. Art is only a simple medium of powerful expression that allows for the construction or deconstruction of said stories–of each and every one of our histories, both personal and collective. The above reflections are simply insights into the power of the human experience and our capability to endure, survive, and transform our histories into narratives.


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