Let’s talk about *Black body* Figurative

Getting this out of the way: nonblacks DO NOT know how to render, sculpt, paint, photograph, etc., Black ppl without the violence of nonblack gaze (similar to white gaze in theory if you want to research more)

& ALL nonblacks who put Black figures in their work are antiBlack. nonblacks don’t care about any of that & won’t change anytime soon so would rather address Black art here.

It’s “Black ppl,” not “Black bodies.” Black ppl are not a bag of bones & limbs to throw around or rearrange.

The term “Black bodies” reinforces that antiBlack notion & systems that classify Black ppl as not *human* & only as property. A Thing, a Slave, the general dishonor of Black ppl that nonblacks enact daily.

For centuries now (& accelerated since the 20th century), nonblacks *support* (tokenize) Black art the most when the work reduces Black ppl to “Black bodies,” to materiality to be used at will with little to no respect towards Black ppl.

Black pain becomes an oil painting that will sit in a storage unit/facility commissioned by a rich nonblack. AntiBlackness becomes the medium & the message.

Versions of *Black body* figurative (not limited to): Using imagery of dead Black ppl usually w/o consent; Black nudes or *showing skin* for mostly nonblack consumption; *abstracted* or *collaged* (Black) faces or (Black) body parts;

artwork (in any medium) of closeups of *the Black body*; making sculpture basically that looks like a lifeless (Black) person (*Black body*, get it now?); making ANY work about Black suffering or Black death solely for nonblacks and/or Black capitalists;

making art where the artist makes themselves darker or renders Black figures darker than the artist often; making *faceless* Black figurative or photography as a Black person with a BFA/MFA; copypasting Black ppl on top of nonblack art w/o any transformation (think K. Wiley).

Dare anyone to show me a Black artist that has a lot of social capital or a Black artist that sells often that DOESN’T make *Black body* figurative. Will wait right here. It’s open book, take your time.

Skillsets & resources are hoarded so if the artwork doesn’t conjure something that’s beyond just relying on technique then you just flexing through white supremacy & the history of global imperialism/Blackface.

There is Black nondegree art that relies on technique heavily, but that work is usually proBlack or for the Black community, not antiBlackness as materiality or mirroring nonblack gaze as materiality like a lot of Black art then & now.

Black ppl don’t have power over nonblacks, but Black ppl CAN be honest about what Black art gets the most support & be honest about how much Black art is antiBlack pretending to be *proBlack* at the end of the day.

Black ppl can also make it less *cool* to make *Black body* Figurative, share skillsets for free more & support nondegree Black art A LOT more, especially since ALL Black degree art is watered down nondegree Black art.

Black art has so much range & the scene keeps putting mostly light skint Black tokens who do *Black body* Figurative. It is 2020, this is embarrassing, aren’t you embarrassed?

Comments and additions welcome from Black ppl only