Decolonizing Artistry: Part One
By Ray Curenton and Tim Dillinger
This is the first installment of a two-part writing exploring decolonization [meaning: the withdrawal and independence from a colony; the geographical and psychosocial undoing of colonial rule] and the arts. We are the co-founders of Imagination Fury Arts, so we thought it was important to launch this blog in our own voices, articulating some of our primary thoughts about how to reclaim artistry from the clutches of mainstream media and its trappings. Both music and book publishing have become hegemonic “industries.” We want to re-center the conversation—to imagine what it means to create apart from the oppressive ideologies this industrialization has caused. There are a handful of revolutionary minds assembled to join us in this first month’s focus on the decolonization process. We look forward to sharing this space with you, our readers.
What Is Art?
The definition and function of art in the world has been changing and evolving since…forever ago. For us at Imagination Fury Arts, art is not simply about creating a book or an album or a film or a video that, at some point, will be available for the world to access. On the surface, art can be a form of entertainment or recreation, but we believe art is at its most useful when it is studied, contemplated, and analyzed — its many lessons applied to the life work of its patrons. Art is a stimulus that evokes spiritual response, oftentimes manifesting as emotion. Art can cause discomfort but it also has healing capabilities. It can both answer questions and be the source of mystery. In this way, art is both a reflection of reality and a window into fantasy.
Art is the expression of consciousness, which means that our every movement should be made with intention and thought.
Art is about creating an aesthetic that reflects a) how we see the world and b) how we wish to see the world. When an artist chooses to answer the call to create, they are being used as an instrument of art itself — the mind, body and soul are a medium for a supernatural transformation that has the power to alter the environment around them. If we are truly artists then our expressions cannot simply be performance; it must be a way of life. Art is the expression of consciousness, which means that our every movement should be made with intention and thought to create or elicit a particular feeling or reinforce a particular belief that we have about how we envision things to be. Recognizing that we hold that power in our private spheres should only further empower us to recognize that we have the ability to create a space in the rest of the world where our individual visions, beliefs, motivations and expressions can exist as well.
Systemic Oppression and the Functionality of Art
We recognize White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy as the greatest threat to true artistic liberty. These three elements have worked together so harmoniously that they have actually convinced people that what they are getting from the mass media industrial complex today is, indeed, art.
Generally, the quality and effectiveness of art is often confined by the opportunities of the artist, the availability of tools and resources, and the final product’s accessibility to and reception of its audience. In a capitalist society, access to the resources necessary to create quality art and sustain the artist are directly tied to wealth and capital. Artists with neither are forced to grapple with this toxic, asymmetric power relationship to gain that access. The industrialization of art means that its primary purpose shifts from enlightenment to monetization. Seeking consumption from a white supremacist and patriarchal gaze means that those with resources will only invest in the creation of commercialized products that further these aesthetics. Anti-blackness, misogyny, and heterosexism are the commodities. Any time the ability to create has to be negotiated against the general well-being of the creator, concessions are made. When the mind, body, and soul of the artist is pathologized by the very system in control of gatekeeping opportunities, that artist’s emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being will be subject to trauma as they pursue and try to maintain access. The cycle is insidious.
Artists and audiences have catered to these demands for so long that our collective social understanding of what art can be have been perpetually warped. The consumers do not recognize that they are being fed a particular storyline — that they are being told to look at non-white people in a particular way in their day-to-day lives, that they are being told to see women through a particular lens — and there are tiers of women with different storylines as well. We are socialized to expect and normalize an abusive and murderous policing institution through endless films and television shows that reinforce white supremacy and localized imperialism. Consumers are being told that certain kinds of LGBT people are tolerable and others are not. They are being told how to be in love, how to look for love, how to engage with others, how to value their experience in the world in every form of media that they are taking in. They also do not realize that there are only three corporations generating the bulk of what they are consuming in music, film, television and yes, even on the internet.
Mainstream “art” is no longer about the experience but about promoting and enforcing structures of exploitation, consumption, and violence.
In the music industry, for instance, things were slightly differently forty years ago. Radio had not yet been eaten up by conglomerates and disc jockeys had the agency to select the music that they were playing. Was payola a factor? Absolutely. Was there still a particular kind of politic that has always been sexist, heteronormative and segregated? Of course. But regionally, people were able to hear a wide variety of music at any given moment — and one could be assured that they would not be hearing the same 10–15 songs every hour. And there were business people in the music industry at the time who recognized the importance of the artist in society — people who did not necessarily hold much “commercial” promise were still being given the opportunity to create their art, sometimes for many years, without the business receiving any kind of return on their investment.
Today, that is not the case. No, today we are left with a generation that believes that art and commerce must be synonymous to be successful. And the only option is to be successful. As independent artists, we at iFury Arts have lamented over our independent peers as they aspire to attain “industry” recognition by way of Billboard chart placements and Grammy Award nominations. And indie audiences view this level of recognition as a sort of validation (they aren’t just supporting a “local band” or someone that no one has ever heard of…because…what fun would that be?). “Visibility matters” is a phrase we hear regurgitated all of the time, but when we look at the outlets giving the visibility, we can’t help but ask…does it?
White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy has propelled the work of white artists imitating Black artists to the top while rendering the Black artists themselves mute. The media would have us believe that the new faces of Soul are Sam Smith and Adele. Macklemore and Iggy Azalea are Grammy-winning and nominated artists, respectively, who have gotten far more mainstream media attention than their Black peers or than Hip-Hop’s foremothers and forefathers ever did. We must ask why that is. And we must ask what on earth the clamour is for. All of these matters have convinced a generation that art is generated for the approval of an audience, must be rewarded by “the industry,” and that it must be crafted with the goal of mass consumption.
Mainstream “art” is no longer about the experience (an experience that is now under the rigid control of its investors) but about promoting and enforcing these structures of exploitation, consumption, and violence. This kind of work is therefore limited in vision, diversification, originality, and radical potency.
The Artist: Illusion vs. Reality
Before the Piracy War and the music industry bubble burst, most people on the outside took for granted that writing songs and making albums provided one with a comfortable life — meaning, at the very least, a living wage. Even today, we see artists on reality television shows or read about them in magazines and assume that they are not only famous, but wealthy.
All art creators are bombarded with messages telling them to squash parts of themselves that are deemed undesirable.
There are many illusions of what an “artist” is. There’s the “rock star” narrative that describes a large-than-life (possibly messianic, usually an asshole) prodigy who works really hard at their craft, magically is “discovered”, becomes famous and makes a shitload of money from their works, and ultimately retires (or dies tragically too young) with an enduring social legacy. There’s also the “pop star” narrative with the same larger-than-life personality minus the prodigy part (ghostwriters, music producers, computers, background dancers, and marketing execs do all the artistic work for them), 15 seconds of fame, and a last hurrah at relevancy before the final burnout. Then there’s the “starving artist” narrative that tells the story of a troubled soul who sacrifices all of their money and possessions to find success, to no avail. It isn’t until their death (if ever) that their works are finally unearthed and appreciated posthumously.
The reality is, these narratives are terribly cliché and a lot more fluid than static. The shitload of money is really coming from endorsements these days (not the art), and even for artists with major label contracts, money is typically sparse. An artist’s health is challenged more often than not, and there is a continual struggle for recognition and resources- — both of which are essential to keeping their work circulating in the world.
And yet, even though public assumptions are not reality, on a certain level, there is a particular illusion that artists are forced to perform for their audience. All art creators are bombarded with messages telling them what to look like, what to talk about, who to be seen with, how to be glamourous, how to be relatable, and all of it works to squash parts of them that are deemed undesirable. Institutional bias leaves many brilliant artists high and dry, and the few with enough privilege to pass are conditioned to be exploited — diminishing or completely silencing their inner radicalism. Fans are encouraged to buy into parasocial relationships with artists — desiring their performed lifestyle, talents, appeal, or attitude. But the audience is never challenged to see their faves as whole human beings or to grow with them into more mature spaces of artistic discovery, much to the artist’s resentment.
Our current system is the cause of large scale pathology, but there is an alternative model. Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon has written honestly about life as a “working artist,” meaning that the art may not be a full-time vocation, but that the “other” things that one does in life do help make the art possible. The women at Olivia Records lived collectively to make life affordable so they could generate their art with a bit more ease and without compromising their politics or intention.
It is important in this era to be honest with fellow artists and with consumers: life as an artist is particularly challenging. It is increasingly hard to earn money when one is working from the particular premise that any anti-capitalist, anti-racist, and anti-sexist artist would be coming from. Do not attempt to do this if you have a dream of being wealthy and commercially viable. Do this knowing that it will be unpredictable, improvisational, life altering work. Your art may never afford you a tour around the world, you may never be on television, and there is a chance that less than 200 people will ever hear what you have to say. That’s the reality. And you should be at peace with that before you go any further. If you can say yes, knowing those things, then you really do have a purpose.
Click here to read the second part of this writing. Be sure to sign up for our mailing list and stay tapped in to our latest news and offerings.
