Bearden Juxtaposed with Dunbar

Romare Bearden, The Prevalence of Ritual: Mysteries, 1964

We went over this artwork today in class, and it reminded me of We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

  WE wear the mask that grins and lies,
    It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
    This debt we pay to human guile;
    With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
    And mouth with myriad subtleties.

    Why should the world be over-wise,
    In counting all our tears and sighs?
    Nay, let them only see us, while
            We wear the mask.

    We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
    To thee from tortured souls arise.
    We sing, but oh the clay is vile
    Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
    But let the world dream otherwise,
            We wear the mask!

Katelyn Richelle Site Is Coming Along!!!

My NEW website Katelyn Richelle is coming along great!!! I'm uBeR eXciteD ! ! ! So far I pretty much have everything except the gallery :( (such a drag right?!?!?!?) Most pictures I had of some of my artwork are LONG gone b/c apparently only have the files got backed up--that i know of--from when my household got a new fam computer :/.........UNLESS they are on a cd somewhere in my parents' house :) BUT either way I have to start taking pics of all my artwork to get some stuff up there AND i still need to research PayPal and whoever(???) their competition is--which says a lot that i don't even know lol

i do like PayPal A LOT b/c they take the money out of the buyer's account and NOT the seller directly--which makes me feel better about the sale and have more trust about the whole process of putting in my personal info to buy something i.e. account #'s, card holder's address, gov't name lol, etc.

until then, check it out!!! www.KatelynRichelle.com !!! Deuces

Kay Rich

My Website Coming Soon!!!

OMG I'm so excited!!! Me dad made a business investment in me, and for that I'm soooooo grateful and thankful b/c I can finally do what I've been waiting to do for A WHILE now!!!! =))

Katelyn Richelle: Coming Soon

Soooo, as an artist, I have decided to go by Katelyn Richelle--catchy right??? Besides, I've yet to start marketing myself so the name at this point really doesn't matter. I already go by Kay Rich on my original (this) blog and now on Twitter/Youtube/Spoken Word and whatever else, so it only seems right I go by the names that Kay Rich is derived from as a studio artist.

But I will be giving updates about the sites, my experience fiddling with code, and what not on Twizzlerz.....so STAY TUNED :-))

FIVE on the BLACK HAND SIDE

Sooooo, who started this? Was this a movement? Or was it always meant to be funny? Did it start with a thought such as, "Why we gotta use the white side to give fives? Why the black side gotta be neglected??"?? hmmmm I was first intrigued by Queen Latifah's rendition, but when I googled searched "how to give five on the black hand side," a movie came up in the search results. Let's observe:




UnknownMovies.com Commentary on Five on the Black Hand Side (1973) ^^^^ Pretty good commentary on "blaxploitation" and this movie. Educate yo'self!!!

My Response to a facebook status:

"let's discuss: race relations in the entertainment industry. minorities have come along way in film and tv. but is it enough? should minorities settle? revolt?"--(Damone Williams)

i would say it depends on how you look at it because recent movies such as surrogates, avatar, the princess & the frog could technically be seen as stereotypical, and we haven't really "gone" anywhere...

surrogates touched on the history of the rastafari movement and how dread locks originated out of revolt against colonialism--the movie had "dread areas" and they were in revolt against the surrogates, Ving Rhames played the dread locked "the prophet"and people of color in movies and books are often seen as mystics or some wise witchdoctor...In the end it was revealed he too was a surrogate--you could go far as to say he was used as a puppet, an unlce tom of sorts lol but that would be too far in my opinion

(this is more of playing devil's advocate) avatar--which i thought was really beautiful btw--Zoe Saldana played an "indigenous" alien, they were even referred to by other characters as a "race" or the epithet "blue monkeys"

also in Avatar, Dileep Rao played Dr. Max Patel, Patel is a popular Indian surname and most of the time, Indians are usually seen as lab technicians or some sort of scientists

princess & the frog from my understanding a very light (if not white) prince brings a black girl out of the slums of louisiana from rags to riches

so i don't think this is enough and minorities in the entertainment industry should not settle

as far as tv, they always give black women attitudes--whether it's a show or commercials, but since Obama came into office, there have been more commercials w/ "loving" black families....i think there's one commercial w/ a latino family, i do not recall seeing any asian families in any commercial--or soap operas for that matter....

Disney's First Black Princess: The Princess and the Frog

LOOKING INTO THE MIRROR, THE BLACK WOMAN ASKS,

“MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO’S THE FAIREST OF THEM ALL?”

THE MIRROR SAYS, “SNOW WHITE, YOU BLACK BITCH,

AND DON’T YOU FORGET IT!!”

Carrie Mae Weems, Ain’t Jokin’ series, 1987-1988

           I encountered this Weems’ photograph during the second to last lecture of my History of Photography class, the class right before Thanksgiving break.  Of course everyone being antsy with anticipation of being on a break—no matter how small—and eating all of the wonderful good America food we would be eating, people, including myself, were hardly paying attention.  However, when the slide containing this photograph came up, I had to stop and stare.  My ears all of a sudden honed in on the professor’s lecture—his voice was no longer just a drone in the background.  How he treated the subject matter was really important to me.  He even briefly referenced the movie that were to come out later when he mentioned, “Yeah, I think Disney’s FIRST black princess is FINALLY coming out this year, and it IS a big deal—even though I think it’s WAY past due.”  Even though he had moved onto another series done by Weems, my brain had not…I thought about all those times when I was little favoring princess Jasmine just because her skin was slightly tan but nevertheless darker than the other Disney princesses.  Although, Jasmine really isn’t a big deal though because prior to 9/11, Middle easterners bubbled in “white” just like white Americans—go figure.  Additionally, I remember never having a Disney princess doll because my parents made it a point for my sister and I to always have black baby dolls…so we wouldn’t grow up with a complex I suppose.  I am so glad the “youngions” in my family will have a black princess and black prince to watch for their entertainment.  Too bad throughout the history of America, in both White and Black communities, being the darkest, most ebony, never equated with being the “fairest of them all.”  In fact, when I was little, I used to want to be darker—and look at me now with dreads and all…I joked around with my family and said maybe Disney got its act together so Obama’s little girls could have something relatable to watch.  I have not seen the movie yet—I don’t like the crowds of opening weekend, but when I do see it, I will be putting another post.  It’s been a long time coming, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are rolling over in their graves, and I am glad.