Racial Trauma

 

Oswaldo Guayasmin

Jean Michel Basquiat

   The title of this mixed media collage is Racial Trauma. I used Styrofoam, acrylic paint, paper and a piece of drywall. I was inspired by different artists like Jean Michel Basquiat, Oswaldo Guayasamin, Wangechi Mutu and more.First, I made the layered styrofoam and formed it into a stretched out screaming face. Then I painted the drywall red and added some words and phrases. These are used either by racist Americans and  people within my community. They are said to foreigners specifically those from central and south america, including the caribbeans. Most commonly used phrases are  ‘go back to where you came from’, ‘they are all criminals’, ‘they are taking our jobs’, ‘thugs’, and the list goes on. You will see subtle racism and obvious hatred on social media, television, and any other form of communication. The piece is meant to represent the layers of generational trauma caused by racism. 

In the article Wangechi Mutu: A New Face for the Met By Nancy Princenthal, there was a part where they discussed trauma due to foreign invasion and it said  “The artist’s mother witnessed the Mau Mau rebellion in the late 1950s and “remembers as a little girl having to take a secret oath to promise never to be a traitor. There was killing, there was cruelty, and there were foreigners telling your elders what to do, ” Ms. Mutu continues. “The one thing that’s always missing — I think it’s part of the trauma — is the personal element. My parents don’t often talk about their experiences in terms of how it made them feel.” When trauma is caused the victim will try to forget or block out and I have seen many family members who have been racially discriminated against do this. My own mother has given up in speaking out against racist words said to her because she says “it will never stop.” It's as if we have no choice but to take in the malice thrown at us and do nothing. I am tired of racism being allowed in person and in the media. Just a few weeks ago I heard a news reporter talking about the Ukraine-Russian war stating “they are not like afghanistan… they (Ukraine) are civilized..” You can find many reporters saying things like “they are like us Christian, they are white..” This has to stop and people need to be called out for saying these hurtful words.

Social media is prevalent in everyone's lives now. Companies are now sponsoring creators of many ethnicities because consumers continually asked for representation. I have a problem with companies who did not cater to different enthinic groups before and all of a sudden changed their mind because they were forced or money hungry. I like to see more representation all around but even culture has become a product to either exoticize or appropriate. In the book, The Art of self Invention by Joanne Finkelstein has a passage deliberating about identity being commercialized like any other object. Finkelstein states, “Like money, and like fashion, identity itself was in danger of coming out of the commercializing smelting kiln without real substance, referent, or real value’ (Wahrman, 2004: 208).” When there is a person in an ad about a product the company is selling a set including the idea they made of said person. This said I feel like the media in general will always hold the white audience in a higher stance of importance. Due to how generic and relatable to ‘everyone’ ads and media tries to be.

There is a quote from an article called The Feminist Challenge of Wangechi Mutu by Heidi Hirschl Orley which I used to guide me in making the collage.  Ms. Mutu  says “I’m interested in powerful images that strike chords embedded deep in the reservoirs of our unconscious.” During the pandemic, the racism outside and in the media became even more obvious to the point that it could no longer be tolerated. We are told multiple times to ignore or not react to hate but it has been too many years and too much. Most of my suppressed anger towards racism was pushed onto this collage. There was this sentence in The Art of Self Invention by Joanne Finkelstein,that states “I have wondered ever since – how little does it take, how slight a movement does one make before raising the ire of someone else?” To answer that question not much, especially right now when in 2022 we still have to deal with racism daily. There is not a moment where my skin color, my language, my culture and my being is not somebody's business. However, I will continue to be proud of where my family comes from, who I am and call out racism.