“Unapologenetic” at City Hall shares stories for next generation
A diverse group of 16 artists’ work is featured in the building directly behind Calder Plaza, with works all strongly influenced by heritage and personal experiences. Three artists talk about how they are using art as a medium to share part of their story.
Monroe Aki O’Bryant is the winner of the 2015 two-dimensional juried award at ArtPrize 2015. Now, with the exhibition he’s curated at City Hall, titled “Unapologenetic,” he’s giving 16 other artists a similar experience—and the freedom to share their most personal and controversial artworks.
As with much of his work, O’Bryant asks a question: “what are you doing about it?” Talking about a problem isn’t enough. For this exhibition, O’Bryant has brought together artists with similar goals as his work.
“I came up with ‘Unapologenetic’ because I wanted people to feel proud of their cultural identity and unapologetic about it,” says O’Bryant. “I am a guy of controversy. I want to open up dialogue; I want to force you to think with my work [and] with other artists’ works.”
O’Bryant intentionally chose artists who had something to say and were willing say it. He chose artists willing to tell their story.
One of the artists he selected, Khalilah Yvonne, is a wife, mother, and artist. Her four photographic artworks, titled “Silence Broken,” reflect her passion to inspire young people.
“There is a lot of pain that people overlook,” says Yvonne.“My piece is based on the things that I went through covering [a secret]; trying to get it out and didn’t know how.” Her photography is a way, she says, for her to work through her own thoughts.
Yvonne struggled at a young age with teasing and disapproval from her peers and in attempts to cover up her pain she turned to drugs and drinking. But all of her struggles were still to hide a different secret. Yvonne was molested for 6 years as a child. Not knowing how to cope with the pain, she gave up.
“I tried to kill myself and that was the loudest voice for everybody else,” she says. “But none of the obvious signs were.”
While her series looks at her own life specifically, she wants to let young people know that they are not alone and can speak out, and she wants adults to see the signs of pain showing up in a trouble child’s actions.
“Artists tell stories that are supposed to touch people in a positive way, be inspired, reach people, and have them connect,” Yvonne says.
Connecting what is going on in the world to the experience many minority citizens feel is displayed in a piece by Esan Sommersell titled “Blackface Trump: Accountable?”
While Sommersell determines not to be swayed by the ever changing media stories, his work instead asks a question—of our president and of our nation.
“Would he be held accountable if he was Black, if he was Mexican?” says Sommersell. He asks people to come to their own conclusions about information not only from the news, but also in his work. “Blackface Trump: Accountable?” encourages people to not shy away from uncomfortable questions, but rather engage with it and have a conversation, listening to other people’s stories.
“[We are] the philosophers, the deep thinkers,” Sommersell says. “The ones doing the thinking about the things others don’t want to think about. We carry on dreams and aspirations of those who have given up.”
“We’re the story tellers.”
Daniel Sarhad is also an artist and story teller. “New Artifacts From an Ancient Culture,” Sarhad’s ArtPrize Nine entry, is his effort to preserve his ancestors’ stories for the next generation. A man mourning the destruction of his culture, Sarhad is greatly concerned about the disappearing heritage of the Assyrian people.
With his artwork, he’s taking a step to preserve the stories he was fortunate to grow up hearing.
“The Islamic State has been destroying [cultural artifacts] because they are images of the human figure, which is considered blasphemous,” he says. “Or they are sold for weaponry.”
Motivated by the hurt he felt for his culture and a CNN story of a young teen fighting back by replicating the destroyed artifacts, Sarhad decided to take action, not only for himself, but for his daughter. He is glad to use this project to share the stories with her and further prolong their rich cultural history.
His story is surrounded in a hope for the America he knows in comparison to the Assyrian violence. Sarhad has a feeling of peace as he is able to freely express both his culture and his faith in the United States.
“We didn’t have to check our culture at the door,” he says. “So those stories were there for me when my dad told them to me. That art was there for me to be inspired by, because it’s America and if you come here from someplace else, you can keep your culture and share it with everyone else.”
Sarhad’s hope and optimism about America brings a new perspective to the far away problems of the “someone else.”
“[My work brings] an awareness of what’s still happening in the Middle East. It’s not just people’s lives being affected; there are cultural artifacts that are being lost and destroyed for ridiculous reasons,” he says.
These are just three of the stories from artists in O’Bryant’s exhibition, capturing life from people who aren’t afraid to be honest about the way it is now. Our individual, group, and city stories all make up a country. Maybe what O’Bryant wants is for each of us to see how important each of our stories are, from small to large, in shaping the global history.
“Each piece has a story behind it,” explains O’Bryant, “strategically made.”
Find more of these featured artists on social media:
Daniel Sarhad’s work on Facebook and Instagram.
Esan Sommersell’s work at artofesan.com and on Instagram.
Khalilah Yvonne’s work on Facebook and Instagram
Learn more about all of the Unapologenetic artists:
James C. Palmore
Eric Anderson
Charles Soto
Gilbert Home Jr.
Ryan Zarzecki
Kyle Orr
Esan Sommersell
DeAnthony Carter
Rachel Nanzer
Michael Kissel
Judy Bowman
Mono D’Angelo
Ozie (ne’Deandre Norman)
Dr. Cindy A. Milton
Daniel Sarhad
Khalilah Yvonne
ArtPrize venues are open daily for viewing, Monday-Thursday: 5–8 p.m., Friday and Saturday: Noon–8 p.m., and Sunday: Noon–6 p.m. Search all venues details.
