BANK SERIES
BANK SERIES
The exploration of what economic value looks like in our own communities is huge. We see grills as a stylistic representation of recentering a narrative around our own aesthetics and beauty value structures.
BANK SERIES vol5-vol8
24”h x 24”w
hand-embellished stretched tapestry.
If you are in the Philadelphia area, we encourage you to check out the show represent currently on display at Paradigm Gallery to see these pieces in person. If you are interested in purchasing these pieces, please click here.
The bank series is a series of art tapestries that depict grillz.
So many of our cultural contributions to society are often ostracized and put down when we take ownership of our own aesthetics. Grillz are a great example of this. Another example of this is the fact that we required a bill to be passed that legally allows people to wear their hair in its natural state. That’s ridiculous. Stop bothering (black) people. We don’t believe that there are man-made laws that govern our existence in the world. We are here. There are so many things that we culturally contribute to society that are demonized and villanized when we participate in them, but are celebrated when they are culturally appropriated. That speaks to a lot of issues of visibility that we have in society.
Grills speak to a particular value structure and bucking of respectability politics. The history of America is not kind when it comes to banks and financial institutions in relationship to black people, examples of this can be seen in redlining, the Tulsa massacre and discriminatory laws put into place after the reconstruction period And overall income inequality. Many aesthetic values are created out of being ostracized from mainstream society, but they are also examples of expression, practices and aesthetics that have been incredibly preserved.
That’s the part that we focus on. We are very mindful not to be responsive to discriminatory practice. To put it quite simply, haters are going to hate. Colonial practice are alive and we aren’t interested in fixing broken people. We are interested in the growth of ourselves and our community. We are interested in our relationship to the environments that we exist in.
We feel that by glorifying and shining light on nuances of culture is important as it is proof of existence, can serves as validation and encourages everyone to look at these aesthetics and perhaps these see them in a wider gamut.
RESPECT ON HER NAME
RESPECT ON HER NAME
“I was young, Black and female. Not everyone can work for and give the appropriate respect to a person in that package” -Ms. Hill
Our members can relate to this wholeheartedly. When we took on the name Mz.Icar (racizm backwards) we were immediately down to the fact that it had a title. The relationship between titles, Black folks, and America is intense. Taking on a title for us is a practice in autonomy and an exercise and boundaries. During Jim crow (and sometimes in the current day), by practice, whites often didn’t call Black people by their names at all. Instead, they used degrading substitutions such as: “boy,” “gal,” “auntie.” Never did they use formal titles such as “Mister,” “Miss,” or “Mrs.” The ability to name oneself, as well as be addressed with the desired title, is a huge exercise in autonomy and taking up space for many Black people.
Over the last few years, we’ve had the privilege of sharing our experience, vision, and stories with community in the form of large murals. We have been literally taking up space. This collection is a mashup of all of these past public art pieces. It’s a bold celebration of color, Blackness, femme energy, and the ancestors who may not have had the autonomy that we practice but taught us how to practice it.
This series has 7 pieces that range from 14″x14″ – 18″x 20″
We are thrilled to partner with @1xrun to bring you a very limited print series. The prints will go live on Wednesday, June 1 at 12:00pm ET.
The original pieces are available through Paradigm Gallery click here to purchase
IMAGINE MURAL
IMAGINE MURAL
My peoples! The team and I have been living in real-life learning new skills. Meeting folks, dancing east coast summer into existence. Ya’ll know Joy is our protest.
We are thrilled to share our latest and greatest mural located in Coney Island’s Luna Park this 3-story beauty is one of our largest yet. It’s titled IMAGINE. This project has been a year in the making…and the front of the Cyclone (see pictures)…well that was about 2 days…time is funny like.
We had the honor of working with the folks at Luna Park. This piece was created to inspire and encourage all the beautiful possibilities. We really believe in the power of us. Meaning, we believe in everyone and their ability to align with purpose. Wonderment is important and we are honored to have been in service to a project that embodies that very concept.
And we painted the front of the Cyclone Rollercoaster too!
REPRESENT EXHIBITION
REPRESENT
Let’s chat about this show at Paradigm Gallery. It’s a group show with the incredible Nazeer Sabree titled #REPRESENT.
We will be exhibiting new works on canvas, tufted pieces and mixed media pieces from our ‘In Us We Trust’ series. This series is a cheering on of all that is is us. We will be the change, hope, future, architects, value moderator and archivists of culture. This work is a playful celebration of this declaration.
Here a few cool things:
🎁there will be a scavenger hunt in Philly accompanying the show, because we always make it accessible…stay tuned for deets.
🎨If you are interested in previewing the show or purchasing work please click here
💽Each sold piece Mz.Icar piece (over $500) will have it’s certificate of authenticity issued as an NFT.
Please enjoy all these flowers from the seeds we have been planting.
MZ HOMEGOING
MZ HOMEGOING
Image description:
A mural we did the other day in Venice Beach, California with the love and support of our multigenerational Central American family, who have been the back bone of this land since it was stolen. In us we trust.
Let’s get personal
So much of our work is about relationships. The majority of our members are related and if not by blood, they are chosen families with long-time roots and a commitment to each other.
This winter’s trip was entitled the ‘homegoing’. for this trip we decided to take half the members to California to reconnect develop and explore our relationships with family and origin. This trip is wonderfully mystic. We visited the aunties. Childhood homes, grandparents, childhood friends. We are were also brand new, we explored, played, and skated through places we loved, new places, and places we learned, were hurt and fumbled through in our early years.
When most of the work you do is an acute examination of proportions and relationships it’s important to dig into that on a personal intimate level…and it’s not always easy to do this work. We world build in our art as a way of escape as well as find inspiration…but these relationships require us to do the grounding part and that’s not always easy. This trip was all that stuff.
We threw bones with Mama and grandma…maybe graduating to the adult table.
We listened to love stories. We ran from drama and tried to let the difficult people be who they are but we adjusted our proximity by staying further away and not adding to that narrative…aka adjusting our proportions, a method heavily relied upon in collage and arrangement work.
We have been on an archiving project for the past few years. It shows up in our work from time to time…kinda low key, but it’s generally there. On this trip we digitized VHS tapes, and boxes of family photos…but mostly we listened to love stories.
We slept, sunbathed, tried on new characters, we drew, photographed, cooked, tufted, watched hummingbirds, Signed contracts, rejected contracts, partnered with some fly partners on some dope projects…soon come.
We are watering and loving up on ourselves so that we can bust out some nifty flowers once our roots get stronger.
What are y’all doing to take care of yer selves?
What’s yer love story?
Fly2.0
FLY 2.0
We are overjoyed about the opening of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum’s rooftop ice skating rink!
The artrink features art by 16 artists. The theme was ‘A note to Our Future’
Ya’ll already know that world spinning and future dreaming is one of our fave past times, so we were ready to play.
Fly2.0
55 x 70 in
The future is what we make, manifest, dream, put intention and or action into combined with the will of the universe. This piece represents that growth journey and possibility. It’s a stoic unyielding recentering of power and value.
The allocatia (elephant ear plant) is considered the tree that grows to the sky. The use of the wings represents a supported propelled growth. The hibiscus represents femininity and transformation. The lines represent the journey and path of growth. The crowning hair symbolizes ancestral knowledge and cultural connectivity. The Rose quartz that she is holding represents a radical protective love.
MUSEUM OF BLACK JOY
A BLACK JOY SYMPOSIUM
To Imagine & Ritualize an Opulent Black Future…
The Museum Of Black Joy presents a month-long, curated series of virtual prompts, performances, queries, artistic interventions, and intergenerational gatherings to consider topics related to Black Joy, defined here as a revolutionary process and practice. Please join us in this extended community conversation designed to joy-scape a vibrant Black future in a way that transcends (without ignoring) histories rooted in oppression.
Mz. Icar and Tough Dumplin will be screening 2 short films created in collaboration. The first short is titled Of Expansion. It’s inspired by quarantine musings and art-making. This trippy studio visit follows 2 puppets through an art exhibition distorted by time and space. The visit features a collection of collages, photography, banners, textile studies, and mixed media pieces exploring ‘what is the ideal scenario and how do we get there?’ The second short film is called Covert Honey. It’s a documentary on Brooklyn rooftop beekeepers and a visual record chronicling the joyous adventure of beekeeping, nestled in the urban confines of a Brooklyn rooftop. Following the screening we will discuss process, collaboration, vision and using art as a vehicle to connect with people, and explore places and spaces.
Registration is required
Sashay from The D'Archive on Vimeo.
GET IT TOGETHER
TOGETHER MURAL
Photography by Lee Hopkins
Today our piece ‘Together’ was officially accepted into the collection of the City of Boston.
This project was unique. It’s taken us some time to process and fully and articulate the experience. For the team and me, it was a practice of radical empathy, love, boundaries, and the balance between. We are in it, but not of it.
CONTEXT:
The Engagement Center is located in an area of Boston referred to as methadone mile. The sidewalks are home to many. Tents fill the sidewalks, bleed out to the streets and little orange caps are everywhere…so many little orange caps. We were advised to be mindful of touching anything because it may have fentanyl on it. There is a homeless shelter on one end of the block, the engagement tent behind the shelter, and a police department one block over. Most major US cities have areas like this because addiction is real, capitalism and lack of affordable housing is real and our society struggles with meeting people where they are at.
THE AWARD
The Engagement Center has a new building, and we were asked to put some magic on the exterior. When we were initially awarded the project, the one thing we noted early on was the manner in which folks described the area and constantly gauged our comfort level with creating and engaging with the community…we just don’t have language that fully acknowledges and dignifies people that suffer from addiction and homelessness…so we hear the apologetic tone in which we (ourselves included) describe the community….one that we are inherently connected to.
IN SERVICE TO EACH OTHER
Here’s the long and short, people are people…all people. Folks go through stuff, some get luck, and various privileges that afford them a ‘good look’ but at the end of the day none of that matters cuz if one suffers we all will suffer.
Folks are out here doing the work tho. We met poets, witnessed bonds, dedicated outreach, and love…all in what has a surface appearance of chaos.
We were honored and humbled to be able to use art to be in service. Mario, Sabrina, Natalie, and the whole Engagement Center staff are modeling what it is like to just show up for folks…over and over again. We got a chance to chat with folks, experience some real rachet shit, and also be held and have our intentions of focusing on connected supported community mirrored.
THE ART
We decided to do something a bit different to make the piece more accessible. As much as we love celebrating figurative narratives, we felt that it was better suited to go with a slightly abstracted text-driven theme. Our thinking was that, If all you got from the art was color therapy and a sense of play, then it still hit. We know what it’s like to not be seen and just want to let the staff and guests of the engagement center know that they are seen.
Please love up on yer folks. We gotta do it together and get it together.
We’d like to acknowledge and extend gratitude to the City of Boston’s Transformative Public Art Program and the Mayor’s Office of Art and Culture for supporting and generously funding this project. We would also like to thank Street Theory Gallery for helping us all Get it Together!
Much gratitude and love…it’s a journey ya’ll.
THE FULL SET
THE FULL SET: ARCHIVE
We did the damn thing. @kendrasteppdavis and the whole collective came to show all the way out! The Full Set is HERE! @theculurerooms is HERE….and we are very extra.
Huge gratitude to all of our peeps old and new that came out to support, chill and celebrate The Full Set. Big shout out to the universe for granting us a summer day in October.
Doing things together is fun.
Taking up space is a must.
Being fly while doing it is essential.
📸 Courtesy of @dodai
PICS FROM THE EVENT
BET MURAL: SINCE DAY
BET MURAL: SINCE DAY
It’s been hella hard to sit on announcing this.
We have a new mural in collaboration with @bet . It’s called ‘Since Day…’
This piece is an exploration of rhythm and movement. It is an ode and mirror of trends, styles, and expressions of culture that we’ve shared and continue to share with the world. It’s a bold celebration of us. ‘Since Day’ visual depicts the grit, flow, and beautiful connections that swirl throughout Philadelphia. We are inspired by the stories, community, music, and soul of this city. We hope to reflect that back in this piece.
Located at 5729 Germantown Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19144.
Big shout out out to the @overallmurals team for making it happen and having me out here on this big wall with the Lil brushes.
#mural #mzicar #blackcanvas #betblackcanvas #germantown #philadelphia #paint #big #walls #streetart #muralist
BET MURAL LOCATION
