The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Sometimes i don’t feel like im really here’
ARTIST CONFRONTS BLACKFACE IMAGERY TO ‘ADDRESS AND EDUCATE’
Claude Desir Jr. knows something about history. But, he’s had to work for it. “I never learned too much about African history or African American history in school. I did that on my own. But it always made me wonder why I was always learning about other pieces of history but (not) my own history,” Desir says.
“Then when I did my own research and was
getting into other stuff, it made more sense: There’s a lot of bad times.”
Today, the Bridgeport artist is confronting those bad times with “Sometimes i don’t feel like im really here,” a solo exhibit at City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport on view through Feb. 24.
Desir’s artwork, inspired by the work of Black artists Kerry James Marshall, JeanMichel Basquiat and Michael Ray Charles, evokes the history of Jim Crow imagery and stereotypes of blackface characters, while challenging the viewer to confront the past.
“I’m tired of seeing the negative moments of history being hidden away, so this is my platform to both address and educate, to those who don’t know and don’t want to know there are Jim Crow-like characters,” Desir says, in reference to the 1830s Jim Crow minstrel character portrayed by a man in blackface, and the subsequent derogatory portrayals of Black characters in advertising and media through the 1900s.
Desir’s characters are eye-catching, vibrant, bright and almost cartoonish — but also intentionally unsettling.
“The era of Jim Crow and its characters would over-exaggerate facial features, oversexualize the women and body structures. … This is the way (white) Americans portrayed Black Americans, the imagery was a form of ignorance. (But) instead of being upset over how my people were being depicted, I embraced it,” he said.
The 24-year-old artist says there’s a conflict between not knowing one’s history, wanting to forget the past and confronting it, as he does in his paintings.
He says the “younger crowd” is still being affected by the Jim Crow-era portrayal and treatment of Black Americans, yet they’re unaware of the context and “string of things” in history that fed into current problems.
“The new generation is completely unaware of the blackface character, so it drives me more to put the artwork out. It opens a new conversation for the new generation that aren’t educated on the piece of American history and Black history, especially children of color. So my purpose, I feel like, is to have people need to know these things.”
On the other hand, he says, older generations who lived through those times and personally experienced segregation and degrading imagery — or took part in it — want to move beyond the past without fully resolving it.
Erasing history, or changing branding in the case of Uncle Ben’s or Aunt Jemima, for instance, just makes it “hidden away but hidden in plain sight,” Desir says.
“I’m tired of things being dumbed down and sugar-coated,” he says. “We need the truth and the whole truth — good, bad, ugly. We need to be the ones to keep the future aware.”
The older generations often tell only part of the story and may resent him for bringing up these images again, Desir says, but he’s willing to take the risk in order to continue dialogue.
“It’s a fine line between perpetuating something and questioning something, so I’m just trying to get as close to it as possible,” he says.
Though his artwork has reflected on the past, Desir said he’s hesitant to speculate on the future. He hopes his art will educate, and continue a conversation, especially
with youth, but beyond that he said the legacy of Jim Crow is difficult to unravel.
“It’s really tough to even — I don’t even want to say I have no hope, but there’s just so many things that we’re still not past,” he says.
“You can’t really move past something
unless it’s resolved, so that’s why I would say I keep something like this around. It’s not just me having this imagery, it’s more than that, and it’s the history, and years of these groups of people being degrading and degraded. So it’s a lot of undoing.”
To view “Sometimes i don’t feel like im
really here,” visit City Lights at 265 Golden Hill St. in Bridgeport. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. See more of his artwork at https://www.viiseviin.com/.
In his 1842 poem Locksly Hall, 1842 Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote “In the spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” Well, in 2021 our springtime thoughts turn to the outdoors. We have been cooped up, isolated and, well, often depressed. For many homeowners, thoughts of spring translate into decks - the places we go to be directly outside the four walls of our homes.
The vast majority of new homes built in Connecticut use stock plans designed for any site. Since every site we build on is unique, its fit with the home set upon it has typically relied upon decks to connect us to the landscape.
If we have learned anything from the Great Sequestration of COVID-19, we've learned that we use every part of the place we live in, in multiple ways. The evolution in our decks will be part of our changed lives. Decks will be reconsidered to be like any other room in our homes has.
Everywhere we look we see “wood butcher” decks that have been inflicted upon millions of homes. Largely they are crude constructions on stilts that are as ugly as seen from inside of the home as they are visually ad hoc and awkward as seen from the landscape they are intended to complement. Typical tacked-on decks that we see all around us have less worth than they have had in the past. Hanley-Wood’s 2020 Cost vs Value survey showed a decline in the retained value of a new deck in recent years. The wood frame outdoor platform on posts has become a construction cliché. This winter I have been thinking about the decks we have and the decks we should have.
These pressure-treated pine, dimensional lumber platforms that start green and go gray are a crude use of a circular saw and screw gun. These classic builder decks move in ways that are brutal to touch, or just to walk upon. When things warp, pop and crack, it’s not just ugly, it’s dangerous. Because of their bottom line, typical decks are less expensive than the finished spaces of a home and are quicker to build and an easy retrofit to most homes.
Decks used to be weekend retreats or nighttime respites. Some basic considerations are worth thinking about before you build. It may be time to spend more to answer your needs now that we have spent endless 24-hour days in our homes. Think of what you will look at when you use your new space. If you have a view, railings of wire or glass can make the edge of the deck just a physical barrier rather than a visual one. Where the view is ugly or lets other people see you, solid walls or plantings can be used.
A south-facing deck will bake people in the summer and be delightful in the winter. Protecting shade may be needed, but dank mold is to be avoided —especially on those decks with northerly exposure. East and west facing decks allow you to appreciate mornings or sunsets —where you sit or eat can take advantage of these views.
How we use the deck can be a reason to use nicer materials
that those rough sawn green lumber platforms we have grown used to. Where you rest your hand on a railing or wall top the added cost of a denser, tighter, softer-tothe-touch wood may be worth it. If you walk barefoot or if you sit directly on your deck, you may want to use denser woods (like Ipe, Mahogany or Pau Lope) or composite or plastic products that offer a smoother, flatter response to touch.
I think it's time to add features to our decks that have been reserved for our
home’s interior. Electricity can extend their function beyond just being outside allowing for night-time lighting, workday use, even creating comfort in the cold (heaters) or the heat (fans). Integrating outlets into deck railings or exterior walls is easy if you think of it before you build: retrofitting conduit and boxes is just another “builder deck” visual makeup call.
We love looking out at water from our homes, but in this last decade, fire pits have become a similar relief for
our lives that are lived looking at screens all day. Wooden decks and open flame are clearly not a good combination, so changing levels of a deck to transition down to masonry terraces may be necessary for wood burning fire pits, or it may be necessary to use UL-listed “fire features” that are safe on wood construction —just hide the gas canister.
Outdoor cooking is now a regular part of most people's lives. Barbequing is nothing new but the capability to cook outdoors means that gas appliances and outdoor kitchens can determine how our decks are designed.
As crocuses pop up through the un-mowed grass, it is not crazy to see the possibilities of construction to allow for a connection to the world outside your home. Think about what you want, and maybe that means using an architect or designer who can translate your hopes into a great place to be.