It's been a while. But I won't do any preamble, let's get into it.
Last year, November 25th 2014, I posted an image online of my rendition of Storm from the X-Men. The piece was done with a hip-hop twist, and there was a lot of symbolism I wanted to get out there.
This was after the time of the Ferguson injustice where Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, 28, a white Ferguson police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. On
November 24, 2014, it was announced that the St. Louis County grand jury had decided not to indict Wilson. Since then there have been countless shootings of black men with pretty much the same results. It's despicable!!
Now, this is a repost, but it's sad how apt all of my thoughts still are and how it seems like nothing is changing, which is why I wanted to share my thoughts on this piece again.
It was around that time that I saw a post on a friend's facebook page basically saying that
he didn't understand why there were posts coming through his feed that didn't have anything to do with Ferguson. Now, this wasn't written for the
sake of any beef or anything, me and him were/are still cool and always welcome
honest debate, but for a second there I was a little angry cause I
thought, 'Who the hell was he to dictate what I
posted?'
But honestly..? I also felt a little guilty due to the fact that
for a while I had been promoting a sale I was having, and with so much
going on in Ferguson, not to mention the world, I hadn't taken the time
to publicly address anything other than ME. After some thought though, I
recognize that there was more than one way to have an impact..or to
speak one's mind...And for me that was with my art.
I believe
that one way for me to honor wrongful acts of injustice to Nubians is to
make sure I put out images that don't perpetuate racial stereotypes. I
feel we (indy artists and creators) can manifest images and works that
don't fall back on the coward's disguise of "satire". Case in point--
When I first brainstormed what images I wanted to create for a new line
of shirts, the base concept was "superheroes in casual
clothes". I then honed the concept to specifically be "superheroes
crossed with hip-hop". I calculated who would be the best fit for this
theme (and yes, who might be the most marketable). I decided on Storm,
Wolverine, and Deadpool. Everybody LOVES some Deadpool, right?
Anyways, for
Storm I figured I'll give her a classic 'b-girl" look: hoody, headphones, rope-chain and
all...should be pretty easy piece I figured. I had nearly finished the image when I
decided to pull up some rope-chain reference..ya know, just to make sure
I nailed it. And then, not till then, after seeing image after image of
cooning rappers with gaudy expensive jewelery side by side with images of ACTUAL rope and NOOSES that
it hit me-- what was I doing? Why did rappers think it was cool to wear
symbols of ROPE around their neck?
Why were some of these same rappers
who were so fast to talk about "killing whitey" and "the oppression of
black people" wearing the same things that were used to end the lives of
so many Nubians? Why was THAT representative of hip-hop? I felt like
someone had slapped me in the face with a dose of Wakedafucup juice! And it was then
that I made a conscious decision not to be a part of that anymore. I
quickly scraped the idea to have Wolverine in that style, and to DEFINTELY
nix the Deadpool idea. (Deadpool was going to be my "ghetto"
character...I'm talking throwing up signs, Lil' Wayne tatts, low riding
jeans, the works. As I crumbled the paper I was disgusted with MYSELF
for even THINKING of some ratchet ass stereotypical self-deprecating shit
like that)
So instead, I started thinking about what could I
do differently. After google'ing various styles of necklaces, I decided to
give my Storm an Afrocentric inspired necklace with her traditional original X-Men headband as
the medallion. It was like a new part of my mind was opened. And I
can't go back.
So I want anyone who has made it this far to
know NOW- I will always be true to myself and my images. I refuse to be a
part of the shucking and jiving artistic buffoonery that's being
perpetuated just for the sake of a dollar. And for anyone and everyone
who thinks the world stops because of whatever mission they want to take
up that week, that's not the case. The world didn't stop when my father
was killed in that hit and run and neither did the bills. I have to do
what I have to do to survive, but I will honor what I view to be
injustice in the WAY I see fit, HOW I feel I can. And
what does this all mean? That I won't watch an episode of Love and
Hip-Hop NY ever again? No, I'm far from perfect, but keep in mind what they say about rocks and glass residences. You never know what a person is thinking or how they're dealing with
something.
Cause while the new religion that is "Social Media" and the omnipresent god that is Facebook tries to make it seem we
as a society SHOULD be saying every single thing that we think, that's not the case. While it seems that nothing should be private or sacred anymore, that's not the case. While it seems like we're all SUPPOSED to confess every single
secret and thought to the masses so that someone can acknowledge and
give us praise for how witty we are or how "deep" we think, that's not
the case. We can use it, it's HOW we use it. With that said, check out the newest version of my Storm piece, with colors by Tommy Shelton.
And if you're still here, thank you. Be sure to check me out on these other spots:
Instagram @Pyroglyphics1 / Twitter @ShawnAlleyneArt / facebook www.facebook.com/PyroglyphicsStudio
Peace
Shawn.
