1-Who are the 5 artists you chose?
- Firelei Baez:
- Sarah Sze
- Jordan Casteel
- Gabriel Orozco
- Zanele Muholi
2-What were the themes the artists addressed about making work?
- Firelei Baez: She started the series of paintings was looking at the first scientific illustrations by Carl Linneaus and said that it was nonsense. That his work of the New World Black and Brown body was equated to beastiality. So, she leans into their falliable vision and creating something new. Her paintings of "ciguapas", is suppose to make viewers come to terms with a women's body.
- Sarah Sze: She wanted the subway station to mirror how we move through space. How the speed of movement transitions into different environments that we don't appreciate, but do repetitively. When she was working on her installation, she was thinking about the Russian Constructivists and the Italian Futurist. They were obsessed with the idea of acceleration of the experience of time mostly through transit.
- Jordan Casteel: To see people who might be easily unseen. She tries to find her kindred spirits in the world, usually she states that it's somebody that is standing off to the side. Her works are meant to make you feel what it's like to be present with someone in a moment.
- Gabriel Orozco: He has try to open many level of exchange, communication, and research. That art became a teaching aid to serve the purpose of teaching Spanish. That it isn't just a commodity that you can just come and shop. It is a place where you can learn and exchange knowledge.
- Zanele Muholi: They are trying to form mobile studios, where you don't have to be fixated by one space. Their work is their own way of writing South African LGBTI history. Muholi tries to make sure that they can empower the people that are featuring in the series and the people around them. To give the people a place to express and that they have their personal story to tell.
3-What were the challenges the artists faced in making their work?
- Firelei Baez: She found it exciting to incorporate things that were labeled as something bad and were seen as unwanted. To reframe "ciguapas" as something beautiful and "an eye of desire", as she words it.
- Sarah Sze: When working on the subway station installation, Sze felt the pressure that she will have to see that everyday and that her great grandchildren might see it. Since, it is very permanent. Another thing that was hard to understand until it was made was how you would see the stations from a level.
- Jordan Casteel: Casteel takes speedy photos of the people, however she feels the most intimate time when she's by herself in the studio. She gets to notice the small things while she paints. For example, her painting with A-Thug and Louie, she doesn't know if she would have noticed the "melanin" shirt sitting on the table. Or what A-Thugs shirt states. Casteel states that the camera has become a connection for the photographer and the sitter.
- Gabriel Orozco: The only interactions that it gets are mostly through the market and institutions, which Orozco states is not good.
- Zanele Muholi: In an article, "Facing the Unspeakable: An Interview with Zanele Muholi"; it states that they resent reduction of their work to narratives of deeply embedded violence and trauma that the Black LGTQIA+ community faces in countries. Each interview that they have it becomes bloody and unnecessary. They rather talk about queer people's stories, and for the conversation to be pure and clear.
4-What were the inspirations you drew from the artists?
- Firelei Baez: Something that I drew from the artist was towards the end of the video. Where she states, "think of themselves as part of a longer cycles behind them and long cycles before them--that every choice we make it predicated by the people we hope to love in the future and thee people we love in the past." That there is always something in our grasp to make something new.
- Sarah Sze: I really like the idea how she followed the movement of the station. For example, the mezzanine it follows how a train would pass with just the movement of papers. Or when you are descending to the station you feel like you're getting deeper into the sea.
- Jordan Casteel: I really love how she makes each person feel when they are able to see themselves in a gallery. Someone states that they felt like a superstar. Casteel makes them feel seen as a person and that there is a value of just existing. It gives them an opportunity to feel represented outside of just criminality and entertainment.
- Gabriel Orozco: Something that drew me was to apply what Orozco states to listen something you already know, but in Spanish. "Meaning changes when you translate," that it is fundamental.
- Zanele Muholi: I think that their message is empowering and love the way that they bring the people to the galleries to see what happens to the photography. Creating the "activist wall" subverts the peaceful imagery of the gallery.
5-What were the things you would like to incorporate into your own work after watching these videos?
I would like to incorporate telling people's stories in a way that gives them a voice. That they can see themselves and relate to a story or a character. Whether it be from folklore or something small from everyday life.
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