Poet Republik: Sesshu Foster
Go visit a museum and tell me what you see, who is represented? Who is represented disproportionately? Or, better yet, go to any museum of your choice via the internet and count how many artists of color are represented. Below is a poetic “review” by Sesshu Foster which he wrote after a visit to the U.C. L. A. Hammer Museum in Los Angeles with his mother.
review of “made in l.a.” at the ucla hammer museum
it’s okay that the artists are all white, even the nonwhite artists (2?) are kind of white
it’s okay that the curators are all white, it’s
okay that the l.a. reflected in this show is like the l.a. in robert altman’s “shortcuts” which is a strange all-white l.a.
(in charlton heston’s “omega man,” (1971) i think the head vampire or whatever they were who was menacing the ‘real’ last human beings on earth, that is the humans who were not vampires or whatever (all white, except maybe the black woman hipster with her militant afro) was black)
let’s not go into “planet of the apes” at this juncture, but in the apartheid imagination of the future white people are in peril, isolated with jutting jaw of manifest destiny determination like charlton heston with his guns and his alzheimer’s
it’s okay that the curators at the ucla hammer museum think that ‘minorities’ are best represented by white queer artists (that shows diversity like on “star trek” the aliens are white people who wear prosthetic make-up or paint their skin blue or green—that’s a kind of diversity)
it’s okay that the white artists who are queer artists don’t have anything to do with POC (people of color)
it’s okay in the little museum labels where the curators note the background, issues and ideas in the artist’s work, that none of it referenced POC even when it mentioned “highest rates of incarceration in the world in spite of having only 5% of the worlds population” (it’s okay not to mention that blacks and latinos make up 60% of the incarcerated even though they are 30% of the american people)
it’s okay
it’s all right, like when i sat in one day in marilyn robinson’s mfa writing class at the university of iowa and she shared her course reading list which was all white except for one book by the only black writer and only POC in creative writing at U of I, and she asked did anyone have any remarks or suggestions, and i said, apart from the one, the reading list isn’t very diverse, it’s all white
robinson didn’t answer, she just smiled and white students (maybe i was the only nonwhite in the room) said, “it’s a very diverse list, already” and “yes, for example, look at all the women writers” and “and kafka,” one added
and robinson just smiled
and i left
that’s all right
it’s okay
that was in 1994, 20 years ago
it’s okay 20 years later to walk through the ucla hammer museum through an all white show
when i was a kid i thought maybe american apartheid would slowly change
and now we have a black president who does everything white presidents do
he does everything just like them, all his policies are the same—he’s like colin powell
and in the 1990s i felt like things could change, maybe
but now i see white thinking’s not changing and this exhibit and the exhibits at every other museum in the city show this, but
it’s all right because the ucla hammer museum curated and hosted “now dig this! art and black los angeles 1960 – 1980” which exhibited from october 2011 to january 2012
so it’s okay, because “black los angeles” had its day
it had the one exhibit
it has black history month every year
it had wanda coleman (in those days)
so it’s okay that all the official museums in l.a. show white art all the time
it’s okay because you can go to the “california african american museum” if you want to see art by POC or you can drive to long beach to the museum of latin american art, or the l.a. county museum of art probably has one or two frida kahlos or diego riveras and some great precolombian ceramics
so it’s okay
if the all the other museums like lacma and moca and etc. show white art at all times
asco had it’s one lacma show “asco: the elite of the obscure, a retrospective 1972 – 1987” on exhibition from sept. 2011 to december 2011, so it’s okay
they had that one
one is good, now we can go back to our regularly scheduled programming
like after a public service announcement
it’s okay that the apartheid imagination remains in place and is not disrupted
thank you
that reassurance is like walking on a broken toe
By: Sesshu Foster
I found this very interesting. It was something I had never thought about. I remember in Spanish class talking about the Diego Rivera murals in San Francisco and my professor seemed really excited when she spoke about it. As if it was something rare and after reading this I realized that she was talking about the murals the way she was, with so much enthusiasm because it is rare for people of color to be represented in the Art industry here in the states. After 20 years it has not changes a lot and that is really sad. They should be equally represented every day of the year not just one day. or a month or for a certain amount of time, the whole year just like any other white artist.
I do not go to museum that often anymore mainly because I did notice this misrepresentation of painters of color. I can recollect a time when I was searching in San Francisco for replicas of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo’s paintings. I searched and searched but unfortunately I did not find one. These two are probably the most profound artists in the 20th century, and I hardly saw any of their works in one of the biggest cities in California. However, I noticed that we don’t need a museum to see painters and artists showcase the art of misrepresented. Some of the most famous murals are not in the museums but they are rather outside where ever one can walk by and see their beauty, no price tag because they are priceless. Why do we need a museum to represent cultures, when artist have other means of presenting art to the world. No disrespect but I say let the whites keep the museums, artists of color got the whole world to use as their canvas. Artist can connect with people in so many different ways with the help of the internet and social media. Overall, I do agree with the idea that museums do misrepresent other cultures but I think that should not disable an artist of color from doing what they love and present their work another way.
Without reading this article I would not know about that white artist are more recognized than people of color. I think famous artists come in all kinds of colors and nationalities but sadly these are mostly not presented in exhibits at museums. The good point is that this article mentions about the black history month and Hispanic heritage month.
I can’t believe the teacher and the students thought that was one diverse reading list, the nerve, and to make matters worse I think it was sexist of them to integrate and claim female writers in that list as part of that diversity as if women were more than enough the minority they needed. Sometimes I think people themselves aren’t aware of their racism. I like how he tied politics into this as well; I’ve always felt like Obama might be bound to follow a certain line because he has white eyes hawking him from all 360 degree angles making sure he stays in line as to not disrupt the social hierarchy and go too out of way to help minorities because it’s not something most in upper management can conveniently afford.
It never fails to amaze me how no matter how many years go by, things like this keep happening. It’s absurd that people of color aren’t represented the way whites are even in art. I’d never stopped to think about who was represented and who wasn’t, so this was very eye opening.
I found this poem very interesting. I never thought to look at the artist’s race or ethnicity. Everything was the same to me but when I look back on the museums that I have visited in the past I find myself realizing that everything is the same. The artist whose work is displayed in the museum has the same color as the rest of the artist. The minorities work are hardly there displayed where every can see.
I don’t think any of these things are ok.
For example, having all art in L.A. resumes to be white is not necessarily a good thing for the reason being that diversity calls for verity and individualized prospective. A person artist or writer of a certain ethnicity will most likely view life a different way compared to a person of a different cultural background or ethnicity. That being said not all members of the same ethnicity will have the same outlook thoughts or ideas for everyone sees things differently. Being able to see the different art and styles of art of all different ethnicity and culture is something beautiful and unique. Alter all who doesn’t like seeing things through a new or different prospective, it’s what makes our understanding expand.
The poem reminded me of the Tv shows I would watch when I was growing up. Most of the characters where all white. At that age I was too young to wonder why they were all white or why they did not have any characters that reminded me of my culture. However, living in Salinas I have never really felt that there was only a single representation of one ethnicity. That being said I don’t agree with everything being showed in the art museums to be representing only one group or ethnicity. For one reason, we live in a cultural melting pot of ethnicities that all bring different ideas, prospective and creativity to museums. Also, I truly believe we expand our minds and understanding by seeing things through another person’s eyes. This being said if everyone is the same how can any verity or new be presented to others.
In World War II, thousands of men took technical training to be photographers. After the war, they used their military training in civilian photography. That is how the discrimination for many women to become photographers in the United States started. For example, in a video I watched, Imogen Cunningham, whose photographs are in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, talks about the discrimination she experienced as a female photographer in her early career. Cunningham found that many people didn’t take her seriously and didn’t believe she could be a professional photographer in a field dominated by men.
The poem brought me back to my world cultures history class. The lecture was on Africa, and we were studying its culture. As an example the professor put the Tarzan movie. The professor put the Tarzan movie to show us how white people put down people of color. By making Tarzan a white character that is able to control the jungle put people of color down, and made them seem inferior, because they live in Africa and they can’t control the jungle. All this is amazing, because you don’t really know what are the intentions of something until you analyze things critically.
Sadly racism still exist in many places. By reading this poem I remembered of a movie were there was a restaurant where only white people were allowed to enter. In this movie there was a black man who thought that by being famous he was going to be able to go into the restaurant so he start to sing and he became famous between his community. I remembered that one time he tried to enter to the restaurant, but the manager didn’t allow him. So in that moment he knew that it didn’t matter if he was famous or not, he was still a black person.
First time I heard the acronym POC referring to people of color and it’s not okay, but is very accurate and discrete as we should say WT (white people). Museums show what the audience want to see. It also depends on where the museum is located. As an example The MET (Metropolitan Museum of New York). The MET is one of favorite’s museum, I go as much as I can, the central area with the European Sculptures is perfect to sit and spend the whole afternoon. The museum is located is the most affluent part and touristic part of the city. Their aim is to target people therefore, they will no exhibit local or heritage exhibitions all the time. They want to show the best of the best, the “distinctive” artists of all times. Unfortunately most of them (artists) are white therefore majority, over the sector and artwork.
A person’s ethnicity should not keep them from their art to be displayed at s museum. Everyone that has talented art to show should be given the chance for their art to be displayed. To be honest when I go to a museum I look forward to look at interesting art. I do not pay attention to the background of the artist. I like to get lost in interesting art. I could be looking at a Hispanic, Caucasian, African American, or any other ethnicity art and ill be more interested in their talent than to what color they are.
I have visited several museums back in high school and I could not agree more with Foster. A majority of the art was by white artists or were white in the paintings. Racial representation is such an important thing to have and it acknowledges that there IS a Black or Latino and there is nothing wrong with it. Its culture may be different from white culture;however, it’s not bad just because its different. Minority art is just as beautiful as white art and it needs to be represented all year round. Not just in temporary exhibits or in black history month (the shortest month of the year).
Thanks for your thoughtful commentary and reflections. Keep the discussion moving!
I have visited multiple museums in the past, and I have noticed a lack of displayed art work created by POC except when the piece is in a museum dedicated to Black, Asian, Latino, etc. arts. I didn’t physically have the chance to visit a museum within the past week, but I decided to look at a museum’s website to see their artists. The website I went to belonged to SFMOMA. San Francisco is a large, urban, multicultural city. There’s a “Little Mexico, a “Japan Town”, etc., so I expected to see more diversity in the art work. Yes, there were POC in the museum’s list, but on any random page of that list, there is only about 1-2 out of 30. I’d also like to add that this disparity between the representation of white people and POC are evident in other forms of media, such as in modeling or in TV. For example, I recently read an article involving a black, female model. She was told that she couldn’t be a model because they already had another black model. To me, this screams, “I only need one black person on my runway to prove I’m not racist.” Frustratingly, I see this mindset still ingrained in much of American society.
I enjoyed reading this poem. It’s really an eye opener to the fact that POC aren’t held as highly as artists, or a lot of things for that matter, as white people are. It shouldn’t matter what a person’s skin color is to be known as a great artists. Everyone has something to say whether it be through an art piece or spoken. Just because someone’s skin color is different from yours means that you should be held on a higher pedestal.
I never really notice misrepresented of color people in museums art until I read this article. I believe art shouldn’t matter what race you come from as long as your the art speaks to the public on how extraordinary their art is. If museums are only representing white people in their art to show the public then we haven’t came far from changing racism. Museums should be showing different artists that want to show ethnicities all over the world and not only allow some artists who are white to show their work.
I applaud the author for standing up and walking out of his college class when the professor said the reading list was diverse just because they add one author who is colored. Something that has always interested me but frustrated me at the same time is that i’ve met several white people who dislike color people but are the same ones saying that they are to pale and white and wish they could be darker if not black.
see also this article:
https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/how-to-uphold-white-supremacy-by-focusing-on-diversity-and-inclusion
“The only way to prevent that is to name oppression for what it is; to speak truth to power. If a group is dominated by whites, men, and other privileged classes, don’t let that be reduced to a diversity issue.”