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Division Bell - Talking Heads

The Division Bell: Black and Blue
Featuring work by – Richard Carroll Jr., Kevin Darmanie, Sheik Fall, Melissa-Marie Johnson, Ibou Ndoye, Nyugen Smith, Papa Gora Tall. Curated by Melissa-Marie Johnson

May 8th – June 5th 2009
Special Performance by The Real Live Band Saturday May 30th 3PM

The soundless, overlooked and yet pervasive racial, cultural and socio-political war between African Americans and Black immigrants in the United States is culturally deafening.The conflict between these groups, due to growing numbers, changing demographics, education, and socioeconomic status has been clashing in its effort to access the scarce resources assigned to the “American dream,” definitions of “blackness,” historical preeminence, and supremacy in American racial politics. Many Black immigrant groups want to emerge distinctly from the all-consuming category of “Black.” While African Americans, although not quite at terms with the word, arrogate it politically as the official word on racial matters. In such distinctions between Black immigrants and African Americans lay buried a history of competitive intra-racial tensions and cultural differences that have never been resolved. For Black immigrants, African American culture can be as alien and as hostile as mainstream America. While social quandary and racist communication feed tensions between native and immigrant Blacks, African American and Black immigrants are often confronted with the question, “What is blackness, what is African, and do we just exist distinctly from the all-consuming category of this word - Black.” What amount, how well-built and silently pervasive has colonialism permeated our ethnicity, tradition and civilization? How has it continuously been resolute and unfaltering in enabling contempt for one’s own background by breeding division?The division bell is a bell rung in or around a parliament to signal a division within and thus calling all members of the chamber so affected, to vote in it.

Selected Statements Melissa

Marie Johnson
For years I’ve been bewildered by intra-racial conflict and the damaging effects it perpetuates culturally throughout generations. However, this year was an especially enlightening experience as I was privy to information that blind-sided me; so racially disturbing it shook the very foundation of all I had recognized, acknowledged or celebrated before. Compelled, it was necessary to create an object symbolic of reverberation and communication utilizing long-established means of broadcast and announcement. The materials used are strongly symbolic in African and American culture, and have been historically utilized as a primary means of communication.

Richard Carroll Jr.
In my current exploration, I have utilized some of the ugly terms, and stereotypes that plague our communities in the forefront. Therefore causing the viewer to come face to face with his/her comfortability with the racism in our community. As we have seen from world events, past and present, we live in a world of excess. As Americans we are bombarded daily with violence, self-indulgence and sensationalism of human misfortune. In this selection I bring you the beauty of violence and chaos.

Kevin Darmanie
When I came to America as a youth from the glorious islands of Trinidad & Tobago I observed a country that was quite different from the one sold to me on television. African American people were far more diverse that the one-dimensional characters transmitted to me through Hollywood movies. Unfortunately, I as an islander was then subjected to questions and attitudes that revealed a stereotyped opinion of Caribbean culture and sophistication held by persons whose ancestral heritage where somewhat similar to my own. I also saw in myself and in members of my own family a misconception of white society, one that failed to see beyond preconceived similarities of class and purpose. I use my work to literally illustrate the tension between two cultures and, at times, opposing ideas of right and wrong.

Sheik Fall
My work generally reflects the African heritage that is blended with a unique style that is ever evolving. Today, more than ever before, our society is striving to bring spiritual meaning and purpose into their lives through reflection of our past, present and beyond. The work speaks a collective tongue in which all can understand and connect while traditional African symbols and historical events transmit light into universal philosophies.

Ibou Ndoye
My message is “Carry the tradition through understanding and transparency.”My pieces are a combination of sculpture and glass painting, the braided and tied ropes and the wires reflect the strong connections we should have as people who share the same communal values of: love, peace, respect, and tolerance. The transparent glass epitomizes our need of social transparency in our relationships, deeds and actions in whatever commitment we have.

Nyugen Smith
For the work in this exhibition, Nyugen includes new works from the SELF series. This particular series is predominantly comprised of mixed media, stream-of-conscious drawings in which he often portrays himself in altered states of being to articulate a thought or notion and to convey his emotional condition at that particular moment. Humor is fastidiously used to intentionally pretend to mask the severity of his internal struggles.

Papa Gora Tall
The aim in my presentation is to show the connection of all Black/African people throughout the Diaspora in United States of America. We are rooted together - as in a family tree. As the tree grows, its branches start to reach out and spread in many different directions. Eventually they begin to conform to the vibrations of the direction each has chosen, but the tree as a whole is always connected, the branches are never so far about, that they forget they are part of one family.

Gallery Info

es ORO is an artist run project space located in downtown Jersey City, NJ. es ORO provides exhibition opportunities for artists who work with new media, performance, and installation. Polymedia Projects is the newly formed non-profit arm of es ORO. Hours of operation are Friday and Saturday from 3PM - 8PM and also by private appointment. To schedule an appointment contact the gallery at 201-763-6129.

Contact
p: 201-763-6129
e: polymedia@esorogallery.com

Hours
Friday & Saturday 3PM-8PM
also by private appointment

Location
107 Brunswick Street
Jersey City, NJ 07302