My First TBT: An Artful Collaboration
Too soon?
Technically, this blog isn’t even a year old yet. But, I have a #tbt I wanted to share with you. I’ve been waiting to do this for ages!
Apparently, copyrighting music can take quite some time! But the music for this project is finally shareable. You can listen to it here.
Although it could be premature to say it, I think it’s a great time to share this since some semblance of hope has been restored after the hellacious events that black people collectively experienced at the hands of police last year. While racial profiling and police brutality are ongoing issues, they were so much more pronounced for many of us earlier on in the pandemic when there were greater restrictions. As the vast majority of the world was glued to their screens experiencing world events and connecting to online communities as a way to survive, some were being killed for the color of their skin…and it was all shared online.
At the time this mini-project was born, I was full of hurt and anger because of all that was going on around me and the realization that I had precious, few white friends that were bothered enough to address it within their social circles online. Watching them appear to go on like nothing was happening and they had no care in the world cut deep. I don’t think I was alone in that…
The presence of black squares on IG and the hashtag #sharethemic movements likely grew in response to similar feelings held by people of all over, regardless of race (and regardless of misunderstandings about black squares). While some may have participated merely to save their platforms, I do believe that a few platforms were sincere in their efforts to create positive change…at least at that time…
In response to all of this, the music teacher at my school and I came up with this collaborative effort to express in some small way how we felt at that moment in time. Have a listen and tell me what you think.
The artwork is on the darker side…especially given the colors I was using at the time. I think even then, there was an obvious leaning toward ornamental letters with a Victorian influence. I also wanted to stream a little light from the upper corner as a way to introduce the idea of hope. I did this because toward the end of the music, you can hear it open up into a little run-on action as though we get to make up the rest of history as we go (hopefully, for the better).
Why “Silence”? I think there are two meanings here. On the one hand, it can be seen as black people wanting the madness to stop. On the other, it can be seen as the silence of complicit individuals…It is as if to say, “When it matters most, how loud are you? Or are you just…silent?”
These are important questions because what remains to be seen is if that time of awakening, mic passing, accountability, and radical confrontation was real and lasting…Or has it too become the stuff of throwbacks?
Let’s not let that happen.
