Studio Snapshot

• I started working from home March 16 due to COVID-19, a global pandemic resulting in more than half a million deaths (so far) that has exposed the underbelly of capitalism on which America thrives. Toilet paper was scarce. Business and socializing moved online (some days I spent 4-5 hours in Zoom meetings).
• Daffodils and cherry blossoms bloomed. I had a lecture cancelled and an exhibition postponed; in their place: a Hypothetical Show and a virtual artist talk. The term “social distancing” entered our vocabulary and face masks became normalized (and in places like Maryland, legally required).
• I started brewing kombucha while others took up baking bread. Roses bloomed. I filed for unemployment (and after five weeks am still waiting to receive payment). Maryland lessened the “Stay at Home” order to a “Safer at Home” order.
• George Floyd was murdered by police officers in Minneapolis highlighting the ways colonialism continues to inform America’s capitalist agenda. Protests and demonstrations broke out across the U.S. calling for racial justice and police reform. It has long been time for reparations. Please donate to BlackLivesMatter, NAACP, ACLU.

Five Faves

1. The Bigger Picture by Lil Baby

2. Imagining how western media would cover Minneapolis if it happened in another country.

3. Scrolling wealth shown to scale for a good long while.

4. List of Monuments and Memorials removed during the George Floyd protests including the recently removed statue of Christopher Columbus in Baltimore (pictured above: an empty plinth after a confederate monument was removed in Baltimore in 2017).

5. Artists: “If you mostly hang out with artists, you might think your skills are normal. They are not. Few people have the range, depth of practice, and follow-through to discover and manifest new visions. Artists navigate the unknown. Artists build possible futures.”

100 Words

Deep Down Tidal by Tabita Rezaire

This video problematizes the internet as a product of colonialism while drawing from its imagery and function. A disembodied voice says, “The internet is not in the clouds, it lies on the seafloor,” while fiber optic cables are shown buried along transatlantic routes used in the slave trade. Phantom Google search results float in space, a woman sings, a man appears with snakes around his torso. Finally, a head emerges speaking to the conveniences of industrialization and its costs. There is a call to action: what we do has consequences that affect not only future generations, but the earth itself.

Deadline Details

• Due July 22: Artist Relief Cycle IV: $5000 for artists experiencing dire financial emergencies
• Due July 24: Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist Awards in Visual Arts: $2000 and $10,000 awards for artists residing in Maryland
• Due September 1: Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant: $1500 for artists that have lost income from an event being cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19
• Due Fall 2020: Hamiltonian Platform: Funding and organizational support for public programming that addresses racial justice, collective action, and other conversations that intersect with the arts.