“Works in Progress” - Homogeneity is a Myth, Can You See Me Now, & To Be A Slave | Michael B. Maine
Michael B. Maine
Curated by Safiyah Maurice
Exhibition: December 5th, 2020 – March 2021
Virtual Reception: December 5, 2020 from 6:30 – 7:30pm
Show Statement
You listen to Black and Indigenous Trans and Queer Women because their fight is intersectional and holds pre-colonial language and culture that has been historically erased by the colonizer mindset. You listen because our oppressed ancestors for centuries have passed down their language and plight. We know the language of the oppressors and the inequitable, genocidal plans they hold for us. You protest to protect Black and Indigenous life and the historic narratives of oppression they carry. So we can continue to fight the imperialist mindset that looks to normalize patriarchal acts of extreme violence. The roots of Black and Indigenous culture and the growth of regional specific artistic languages were derived to portray harmony, the insatiable process of familial connection, and episodic emotional storytelling in ways Whiteness can't touch. It's imperative you investigate, look deeper, and question whether your historic narrative, artistic ideologies, language, and practices at large uphold the current paradigm that is White supremacy.
Collectively, this exhibition looks to challenge the complex structures of ignorance within our social systems. Artist Michael B. Maine presents a series of works in progress centering the narratives of the marginalized and the intersection of race and implicit base. Why are the roots of American history centered on a passive Eurocentric colonial perspective? Why is difference synonymous with inferiority? Why does Whiteness protect you from being murdered by the police?
Curatorial Statement
The transgenerational practice of deculturalization is encoded in our unconscious implicit social cognition; it dictates our thought processes and behavioral interaction towards “difference” specifically, inferior difference. The act of survival in an environmentally colonized culture that continues to build upon the ancient traditions of hierarchy, colonization, and the subjugation of historically marginalized groups is resistance. Artistic language and the flesh of the oppressed have been stolen, modified, and commodified all in the name of American capital progress.
Artist Statement - Michael B. Maine
Like me, all of these projects are a work in progress. Each series serves an opportunity for me to better understand a number of social constructs and issues. I've been fascinated by the concept of deviance for years. Who determines who and what is to be deemed normal, how do these systems influence a person's lived experiences, and how does one become increasingly aware of their particular roles within those systems? Seeking answers to these, and several other, questions have put me in community with people who have challenged my thinking, and enriched my life in a number of ways.
My goal in presenting these works is to invite people to pause, reflect, and suspend judgement long enough to provide an opportunity to develop a deeper analysis of the various social systems and the roles we play in perpetuating and disrupting them. Themes common to all of these projects include a yearning to develop a more comprehensive analysis, topics that greatly influence our lives yet often considered taboo to discuss, thereby challenging assumptions, celebrating diversity and the individual, and collaboration—it is extremely important to me to do this work with people as partners and participants rather than subjects.
Can You SEE Me Now?
A collaborative portrait series with:
Michael B. Maine (Social Engaged Creative/Photographer)
Lhorna Murray (Community Activist)
Oliver Villafuerte (Esthetician/Avant Garde Makeup Artist)
North Seattle College Gallery
The act of looking is not the same as the act of seeing. To look at something is simply directing one's gaze in any direction. Looking requires nothing more than the gift of ocular vision. The act of seeing is much more involved. Seeing requires consciousness. It requires recognition that whatever or whomever one is seeing has both abstract and literal value and exists independently of the viewer.
Can You SEE Me Now? is a socially engaged portrait collaboration. This series is a celebration of five women who are often looked to for their expertise in their respective professional fields, identities, and using their voice to effect recognition or change—but rarely seen as whole, complex humans with their own perspectives, lived experiences, hopes, dreams, and challenges.
The images presented here reflect some of the lesser known, lesser appreciated aspects of the totality of these people. These individuals are often seen as figures, often talked to or about rather than talking with. They are powerful, beautiful, magical. They are wonderful. They also, as do many of us, struggle with various life events, emotional and mental challenges, finding a sense of place in an increasingly hostile environment. The goal of this series is not to tell the viewer what to think, but rather encourage the viewer to reflect on their own perceptions, challenge assumptions, and see themselves and each other as more fully human.
Homogeneity Is A Myth
Michael B. Maine
The majority of historic language surrounding Black, Indigenous, and people of color has been reconstructed into a narrative that doesn't reveal how deep the effects of deculturalization have shifted our understanding of race. The construct of race is an inspired myth that has been historically weaponized to prove Black inferiority. Homogeneity is a Myth was largely inspired by Cynthia Cockburn’s book The Space Between Us: Negotiating Gender and National Identity in Conflict and my experience of racism in this country. This work, Cockburn explores how various groups of women have worked together across borders to see the humanity in each other during times of national conflict when the rhetoric of sameness is used to breed hostility. In this venture I explore areas where identity-based conflict occurs daily. Dismissive language and behavior robs us of the richness that exists in the individual by reducing the totality of their being into a limited, pre-existing story. This is a visual manifestation of the exploration of things that keep me up at night. Thank you for being here and being curious.
To Be A Slave
Michael B. Maine
In the 1930's the Federal Writers' Project was organized and was tasked with interviewing people who were formerly enslaved from the transatlantic slave trade. In 1963, Julius Lester learned that these stories were stored at the Archive of Folksong at the Library of Congress. These interviews were transcribed word-for-word and serve as a preservation of not only the narratives, but speech patterns and sounds as well. Lester spent numerous hours reading and studying these interviews—and endeavored to publish a book with a selection of these narratives while providing important context. At the very beginning of his book To Be A Slave, Julius Lester opens with a note stating, "One of the greatest overlooked sources for information concerning slavery has been the words of those who were slaves."
This work was perspective changing for me. I'd heard stories, read books, watched movies, and developed my own relationship with the existence of slavery in my background. I was proud to be descendants of people who endured so much while maintaining a sense of identity and culture. But it wasn't until I read this book that I heard their stories with their own words. It took me about three months after completing the book to build up the nerve to reach out to Julius Lester and let him know what his work meant to me and how much of an impression these stories left. And I asked him if I could have his blessing to adapt some of these stories into a visual reading from people in the community in hopes that they may also appreciate reading these firsthand accounts and broaden their thinking and feelings about all kinds of topics. I received that blessing. Six months later, Lester died. This work is particularly important to me. Not only do I think these stories are profoundly illuminating and moving—but it is one way to honor the work that so many have done for so many years.
