We were invited to Flöha, Saxony, Germany along with a bunch of other incredible artists to transform this closed paper factory into a playground of creativity for this year’s @ibug.art festival

The process:
When we asked about assigned spaces we were told by the organizers to let the wall speak to us. I’m not going to lie. It’s really stressful to create work on the spot. It’s a great exercise but it’s rough. Our installation piece ‘PRODUCTIVE HUMAN BEING’ was created on the spot and in response to what we learned about the paper, factory and materials that were found in the building.

The context:
There is a lot of intersectionality btwn the fall of industrialism in US cities and the story of this paper factory. Folks put a lot of value and identity in occupation and seem to start blaming anyone they think they can when stuff falls apart.

This area is seeing a rise in right wing support because just like a lot of the center states folks feel forgotten, work isn’t what it use to be and pivoting is harder than blaming marginalized people and honestly it’s hard to find grounding when bellies are grumbling.

The work:
So it got us thinking… If value is subtracted from productivity, perhaps most of this wouldn’t be so much of an issue. This installation piece tackles the concept of unhinging the correlation between what we make, who we are and where we sit in society. We painted a mantra of ‘value does not equal productivity’ and ‘productivity does not equal value’ on rolls of paper that we found in the factory. We then assembled these pieces on the wall to create a sculpture falling out of a hand coming out of the building. This was done as a reminder that there is more to life than work and what we make though it is important to make. It’s important to also understand what and who we’re making for.

The Protectors.
Of course we had to bring our people with us. This is an iteration of our piece called the ‘Protectors’. There are a couple figures in the collage that are images from the US archives of people who were sharecroppers and/or former enslaved people. We incorporate these figures into this collage because it’s important for them to be dignified and there’s something incredibly satisfying about bringing them all over the world to see what we see. I’m glad we brought them. As much as we enjoyed ourselves, being ‘othered’ is exhausting.

Speaking of dignity, taking responsibility…and all things that come with making amends, here is an observation. It’s seems way easier to be apologetic when you don’t have to live/deal with/see the folks you are apologizing too. It’s like apologizing to relics.

This is all intersectional.

The lesson: the people who have been the victims of the atrocities are the ones who determine if amends have been made/proper reconsolidation have been put into place. It is never determined by those that have inflicted the atrocities. They were never qualified to do that, thus the atrocious acts.

Kendra Stepp-Davis and The Mz.Icar Collective were invited to display The Full Set at this Years BLINK Festival. We are so thrilled.

The Full Set is a 20-foot high inflatable sculpture of two hands with long interchangeable nails.

For BLINK we will be designing a new set of Electric Nails entitled ‘Their Flowers’

Perspectives Mural: Dr. Charles Dillard Center 791 E McMillan St, Cincinnati, OH 45206

We had the pleasure of experiencing Walnut Hills from a ‘people’s first perspective’. It was eye-opening to learn about the history of the area, the legacy of the people, and the hopes for the future that people have. We sat down and chatted with people who are vested in Walnut Hills and learned about their hopes and dreams and aspirations for the future.

Jay Hill schooled us on the deep legacy of P-Funk and Afrofuturism and it’s Cincinnati roots. We loved that this vibrant black entrepreneurial epicenter was the incubator for the creativity that later came to be P-Funk. As a forward-leaning community-focused musician Jay Hill embodies so much of the philosophy around Afrofuturism. We felt that him being depicted with the Bootsy Collins glasses was only fitting. Allen Woods discussed the lessons of perspective he gained from photography and applies to his endeavors as an artist, community leader, and teacher. His hand and camera are displayed prominently in the mural composition. His interview reminded us of how important visual storytelling is and the multiplicity of perspectives that come along with any moment. Gee Horton shared glimpses of his process, stories of his subject matter, and explorations of some of the intimate soft points in modern adolescence through his illustrations and relationships with the subjects. Geoffrey Sutton gave us a walking tour around the neighborhood and vividly painted the picture of what this neighborhood looked like before reckless city planning was applied. He spoke of the businesses, the ecosystem, the autonomy of the people, and the lives that they were building for themselves and future generations.

We quickly came to understand that we have not visited Walnut Hills without visiting Kathryne Gardette and her husband Baba Charles Miller. She spoke with us about her creative practice and threadwork passed on from her ancestors as well as her continued study and incorporation of West African heritage and her work.

We rounded out our interviews with Dr. Dillard of the Dillard Center. He chatted with us about his medical contributions and long relationship with Walnut Hills. The Perspectives Mural lives on the Charles E. Dillard Center Parking lot wall. This building is a hub for entrepreneurs and community gatherings. This connection was fostered through a long deep relationship with the community. We are honored to have Dr. Dillard chat about that relationship with us.

One of the things that all the people have in common is this graceful way of pushing walls, moving boundaries, and widening the worlds in which they live. We tried to depict this in the mirror through composition and placement. People are creating enriching experiences for themselves as well as the people around them and that’s something that we saw throughout the Cincinnati visit.

We combed through hundreds of photographs at the Geier Research Center with the assistance of curator, Arabath Belasko. These spoke to this place of home and possibly a Black Eutopia for many Black people. The irony of MLK being built through this thriving community is not lost on us nor is the future of what these brilliant people will and are making. These roots are deep and they continue to attach and thrive. The people are here and now. Welcome to Walnut Hills.

Our hope for this mural is that it is a continuation of widening the way in which we tell stories and hold history. The entrepreneurial influence that this city had and continues to have on its residents, neighbors, and visitors is depicted through the Bootsy Glasses on Jay Hill. We pay homage to the foundation and influence of Walnut Hills with images of the Manse Building and photos from the archives, including the people in the doorway.

We decided to compile these stories and interviews into a short documentary that is augmented over the mural itself.

The use of geometric shape black with splashes of spectrum color represent a rhythm and flow. It is to depict movement, as nothing stays the same. These changes can be stewarded by people with vested interests in being of service to one another and perhaps that’s something that Walnut Hills is moving towards.

Keeping with the theme of dynamic future perspectives, we have added VR as an additional way to engage with this piece and experience the documentary.

We have edited the interviews we did on the visit and have incorporated sound bites in the AR component and a link to the full documentary.

This is a behind the scene image of the AR voice and facial mapping.

The AR component is generously powered by ARTIVIVE.

THANK YOU

This project was generously produced and sponsored by ArtWorks Cincinnati. It was lovingly and tediously painted by youth artists over the summer of 2022 and will be showcased as part of this year’s FotoFocus Biennial.

We are thrilled to have lent our skills to Doritos Solid Black Initiative. For this project we created a piece called Legacy. It’s featured on a limited edition bag available at select Sam’s Club and on Snacks.com

Our piece Legacy represents a future-leaning collective ethos of blackness. We are channeling call and response. We are channeling ‘throw it back’. We are channeling raising the vibration through a collective consciousness. This piece is a love letter saying, ‘ I see you. We see you. We see us.’ The green on the bottom represents foundational growth. The fluorescent colors on the top represent possibility and vibrancy the faces blend into one another because our existence requires us to do so in a radically, empathetic and collective manner.

As part of the SOLID BLACK initiative, Doritos is donating $125,000 to five non-profit organizations that support the next generation of black changemakers. This includes @4oakcliff a Dallas black lead non-profit located just a few miles from where the solid black bags were made.