Gallery Response - Kobi-Lee Sanchez

Curatorial Activism Defined 

    Activism has expanded from organized protests and revolts and transformed into artistic thought created to capture the audience. “What is Curatorial Activism,” written by Maura Riley, addresses how curators are actively designating their art exhibits to counter the status quo, or “counter-hegemonic initiatives” (Riley, p.14). Maura Riley explains that curatorial activism’s purpose is for curators to have “committed themselves to insurrectionist initiatives that are leveling hierarchies, challenging assumptions, countering erasure, promoting the margins over the center, the minority over the majority, as well as positing curatorial “strategies of resistance,” provoking intelligent debate, disseminating new knowledge, which, in the end, offers up signs of hope and affirmation,” (Riley, p2). This Is What I Know About Art, by Kimberly Drew, represents Drew’s realization that the art field has disproportionate opportunities for male white artists compared to people of color, shown through the “lack of diversity” within creative fields. When Drew realized the threat to black art, she began her curatorial activism journey by beginning her Tumblr blog. Kimberly Drew’s pivotal moment in “This is What I Know About Art” occurred when the Whitney Biennial released the artists who defined “art now,” only 9 out of 103 artists were black. While this stung, the “curatorial committee invited the white male artist Joe Scanlan to be in the biennial under the pseudonym of Donelle Woolford, a fictional Black woman artist brought to life by Black women actresses on Joe’s payroll. There is significant literature available that painstakingly explains this work as a continuation of the minstrel show tradition, the racist performance of blackface which lampoons Black life for white audiences” (Drew, pg. 29). This event represented how even though these experiences are those of ancestors of African American people, white men are still appropriating and using it to their advantage. Utilizing her reach to other black artists, she “had to resist the erasure of Black artists.” (Drew, p. 17). Kimberly Drew’s social media presence and Tumblr blog encapsulate Maura Riley’s idea of curatorial activism because her blog “function[s] as curatorial correctives to the exclusion of Other artists from either the master narratives of art history or from the contemporary art scene itself.” Riley explains how the use of the blog and her actions as a curator is aimed to go against what is mainstream and promote the diversity and inclusion of artwork created by “work produced by women, artists of color, non-Europeans or queer artists” (Riley, pg. 14).

    Natali Bravo-Barbee is a curator who creates works that connect the media of photography and installation sculpture. Although Bravo-Barbee documents the world through her lens, she has also worked behind-the-scenes curating. 

    Bravo-Barbee officially debuted her exhibition, Lente Latine, or Latin Lens. The gallery's purpose was to shed light on the works of Latin American Photographers on the East Coast. Through the exhibition and the selected artworks of each photographer, she hoped to focus on their background and cultural identity. Maura Riley shows that curation, such as Latin Lens and its focus on the culture of Latinx, shows how curation can actively “resist masculinism and sexism, confront white privilege and Western-centrism, and challenge hetero-centrism and lesbo-homophobia.” In the Latin Lens curator statement, Natali Bravo Barbee states, “It was important that I showcase various vantage points of what it means to have Sangre Latina. While the History of our people has been written in blood by white-washed Spain and Portugal, what remains alive and unites us all.” Natali Bravo-Barbee actively shows curatorial activism because although these artists vary in their photographic abilities and preferred techniques, she collected all of them based on their Hispanic background and centered experiences. Barbee utilized activism and incorporated the changes she wanted to see in other curator exhibitions within the art world. Latin Lens shows how it purposely is trying to improve the current Art field as it answers, “Who is behind the Camera, and what camera are they using?” Barbee utilizes biographies and the artist’s purpose for their pieces aside from their artwork to feed the audience’s information.

Label of Jacqueline Herranz Brooks Created by Curator

Along with Art Exhibition usual label.

All There Is To See

    Jacqueline Herranz Brooks is a queer Cuban author, educator, and artist that resides across the water in New York. Her art merges the media of photography, soundscape interpretation, and urban interventions. She has also produced short stories called “Esccenas para Turistas” and " Mujeres Sin Trama," showing her honest vision and insight into Cuban society. Her work features “A Journey as Sacred as Historical is an ‘evolving body of work that explores our relationship with nature as public space.” Herranz Brooks focused on amplifying the idea that parks and green areas should be protected due to the healing. She reflects on the “Trail of Tears,” which was connected to Forest Park, and she resents these forms of disenfranchisement and cultural destruction that occurred previously. This work is activism because it utilizes her art to t “give voice to those who have been historically silenced or omitted from the ‘master narrative’” (Riley pg. 14), which allows the tribes and people who were forced to leave their ancestral lands to be remembered while embarrassing American history for allowing the forceful move.

Working Class New York

    Dakota Santiago is a photographer who utilizes analog photography and is interested in documenting and exposing social issues found in New York City. He focuses on the harsh conditions that tenants in the Bronx endure every day due to the slumlords in NYC. His photography utilizes Archival Inkjet Print, prints that can last for an extended period with proper care. Santiago’s work within ‘Working Class New York” covers the social issues within New York concerning tenants who are forced to condone unbearable living conditions. He also captures the backbone of New York City, and he expresses through his work that they are unlikely to receive recognition. Santiago exudes artistic activism through his photography because he calls out an issue within a known area of New York that connects to ongoing injustice and governmental allowance of needed maintenance being ignored by landlords. The identity of hard-working Bronx workers being captured within the project relates to Kimberly Drew’s experience of Michael Brown’s Death and being heartbroken and hurt alone while everyone around her is unaffected. Both the work of Santiago and Drew recognize how people of color who contribute to society continue to be ignored by society. They both exhibit the necessary call to action through their art forms as they expose and inform their audience of the lack of recognition of communities affected by injustices that continue to occur.

Works Cited:

Sholette, G. (2021). Art Of Activism And The Activism Of Art. Lund Humphries Publishers.

Reilly, Maura. TOWARD a CURATORIAL ACTIVISM. www.maurareilly.com/pdf/essays/CIAFessay.pdf.

‌Reilly, M. (2017, November 7). What Is Curatorial Activism? ARTnews.com. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/what-is-curatorial-activism-9271/

‌Drew, K. (2020). This is what I know about art. Penguin Workshop.

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