Art On My Mind_thepoeticsofsoul

Th e P o e t i c s o f S o u l: A rt f or E v er y o n e

u LA C K P E 0 P t, E co mp rise ha lf the popu lat io n of th e small m idw ester n [Own t hat I have lived in for the past six years, even t ho ugh the neighborhood where m y house is remains p redominately whi te . Coo k ing in m y kitche n one recent afte rnoo n, I was cap t ivated b y t he love ly vern acular sounds of black schoo lchildren walk ing by. W hen I went to the win dow rc watch them . I saw no black chi ld ren. only white child ren. TIleYwere not child ren fro m a ma te rially-p rivileg ed backg rou nd . They attend a p ublic school in whi ch black child ren const itute a maj orit y. The man nerisms , t he style, even th e vo ice s of th ese white child ren had come to resemble t heir black peers -e-nos t h rough an y chic acts of cuiru ral app ropri at ion . nor th roug h any willed desire (0 "eat [he a th er." They were JUSt t here in the same space sbanng life- becoming tog et her, forming th em selves in relation ro one anothe r, to what seemed most real, This is JUStone of the many everyda y encounters with cult ural di fference. wit h racial ident ity, that rem ind me of how con structed th is a ll can be, t hat th ere is really not hing inh eren t o r "essent ial" t hat allows us eoclat m in an absolute wa y any heritage . Sad ly, at a ti me when so mu ch sop hist icated cultu ral cr it icism by hip intellect uals from di verse locat io ns extols a visi on of cultu ral hyb rid it y, bo rde r cross ing , sub jecti vity const ructed Out of pl u rali ty, t he vast majority of folks in t his society st ill be lieve in a no t ion ofiden nry that is roo ted in a sense of e ssent ial t raits an d characte rist ics tha t are fixed and stat ic. Man y co nte m po rary Afr ican- Americans, espec iall y th ose from nonm ater ia lly p rivileg ed bac kg rou nd s. a re sed uct ively eng ag ing a narrow nationali st identity po lit ics tha t leads them to invest in not ions of et hnic p ur it y, t hat mak es t hem bo t h fearful and di sm issive of th ose ind ivid ua ls who do nor sha re th e same set of assum pt io ns. Am on g th e black poo r and de sruu re. whose li ves are ravag ed by exploi tat ive and oppr essive insti tu t io na li zed str uctu res of d om inat ion , na rrow na t ion al ism take s ho ld beca use it intrud e s on th e co nc rete rea li t ies o f pcs r mod em ma laise ,

TlH PO ETIC. S a t sot t

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A lu on Saar. Sapph ire. 1986. Beads and stqlllns. 25" x 3-1. n COII,-,tSJ off an BaH'" G alltry.

W he n t he g roun d IS sha king un der one's feet , Iundu rnen taljsr ide utity politics can offer a sense of srabihry, T he rregedy is time It deflects attenti on from t hose forms of Struggle t hat mig ht have a more const ructi ve. trunsfo rma ti ve impa ct on b lack life. Black folks who are Interrogating essendetiseessc mpuoos about black idemiry an: engaged in an act of decoloneancn tha t em powers and liberares. In the es~ y "Mrmmal Selves ," the black Bnrish cult ural crit ic Sruarr H all affirms this: ~ It may be true that the self IS alwa ys, III a sense. a fiction. JUSt as the kind of 'clos ures' wh ich are required eo create com murunes of idennficanon -c-naricn , echmc g roup . famili es , sexualit ies. erc.c-care arb itra ry closu res: and the forms of political an ion , whether move r nenrs, or parr ies, those tOO are temporary, parcial , arbi rrery, Ir IS an Im mensel y im portant gai n when one recog nizes rhar all iden my is const ructed across difference." G iven th is realiry, ac ts of appropr iar ion lire part of the process by which we make ourselves. App rop riati ng - taking so met hing for one's own use -need nor be synony mous wirh explcrtanon. T his is esp ecia lly H ue of cull ura l appropriat ion. Th e Muse" one ma kes of wha t IS appropriared is the cruc ial factor.

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AR T ON M Y MI ND

T hese days it is often assumed t hat any act of cultura l appropriation wherein one et hnic g roup d raws on t he experiences of a g roup to which they do not belong is suspect . Issues of aut hent icity are raised co devalue work th at eme rges from cultural bo rro wings. For a more expansive understand ing of culrural appropriation to eme rge in this societ y, crit ical th inkers would need to consrrucc both a revised onto logy and rad icall y different t heories of knowled ge. Th is wou ld me an taking serious ly ways of knowing t hat may not be deemed rati onal. Rig ht now, di rect experience is privileged in many of the deba tes surround ing ide nti ty politi cs as the most relevant way to app rehend reality. Experience is clearly one wa~' to know, yet th ere are many ot her ways as well. T he appeal to experie nce is cent ral for all claims of aut henticity, T his has been th e case especi ally with respect to black vernacula r cultu re and its appropriation by ind ividuals who an: nor black, or by black folks who are from mater iall y pri vileged backg roun ds, or who were raised in p redo minatel y white envi ronm ents, or wit h mixed ethnic or racial parentage. Counte ring claims to black nurhent icuy in the essay "Black Art and t he Burden of Representaeiun," Kobena Mercer cont end s: "W hen th e tr op e of 'aut hent icit y' is used to define th e qu esti on of aes t hetic and political value, it often red uces to an arg ument abour who does, and does not, 'b elong' in t he black communities ." Oftent imes rhe issue of aut hent ici ty is raised when indiv idual black art ists produce wor k rhar is well received by t he whit e mainstr eam . \'Uirhin the realm of cu ltu ral producnon, as more white produ cers and consumers traffic in the commod ification of blackness, showing bot h inte rest in and fascination with sub ject marrer related to b lack experience, part icu larly to black vern acu lar culrure, issues of cultural appropriat ion , owners hip, and au thent icit y come to th e fate. Ind ivid ual African-A mer ican arti st s are more likel y rc be interrogated about issues of identity tha n ever before. W hen Alison Saar recentl y exhibited he r work at th e Hi rshhc m Museum in Washingt on , D.C.. African-American criti cs and arnsr s were among t hose who judg ed her work from the stand point of narrow identity poli ces . Accu sed by critics of self-consciously appropriating black folk arc in an att empt to mask her privileged upbring ing , Saar found that her ident ity and not he r aest hetic became the cent ral issue. Hank Butcha rd 's review of the exhibi t in the W(u hingroll POJ1 was particu larly scat hing, In a me an -spi rited , ridiculing rone, Burchard assert ed : "She

Ti ll: PO ETI CS Of SOU L ART rO R EVI: R" O N £

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seems nor so m uch a ralenred African · Amer ican in search of her an in ic identi ty as an accom plished art ist in se arch ofan African-American idenrit y. Th e im media te, powerful impa ct of her sculptures fades rather than builds because one ca nnot help seeing t hat Saar 'd umbs dow n' her first class craft skills in im itat ion of rhe rude execution of folk a n. Th is comment is h igh ly iron ic si nce it is precisely the self-co nscious d ispl a}' of enisnc skill and craft evident in Saar's work that is meant to Stan le aud ie nces, mak ing them aware rhar th ey a re looking not a t folk ar r bu t, indeed , a t an that is informed by th e aest hetic princ ip les and ideals t hai ge ntle an , Saar's work fuses rradirional acade mic study of an. bot h his to ry and c raft, and &aa r's own aest het ic exper ience of folk a rt trad itions, That fusion necessarily carries with it m imet ic traces that proud ly asse rt t hemselves in the work . even as Saar reveals he r un iq ue art ist ic vmon. U nfon unatdy, reviews of the H irshhorn exhi bit lhat focused narrowly on q cesefons of person al bac kg round deflected att ention fro m Saar's a rrisnc vision , It was as thou gh the exh ibi t was t he HTo Tell the Truth" ga me sho w and th e only q ues tion rhar needed to be as ked was - W ill the real black perso n please stand Up?M Rob yn J ohnso n- Ross's sho re po lemica l piece " Ersatz Afr ica: Alison Saar at the H irshhcm " was even more agg ressive in irs ins iste nce t hat the value of the work could be assessed wit hou t di rect conside rat ion of an}'· thing except the art ist 's identi ty and personal hist ory. Assert ing that th e artis t is, "after all , neither b lack nor white, but somet hi ng in between ," Ross nega tes all und ers tanding of identity as locally coosrruc eed. formed by bc rh c ho ice a nd concexr. In the first half of the piece she add resses Saar's failure to rend er an "aurhem ic" version of the bibl ical narra t ive of Salome - as t hou g h t his we re th e function of a rt, to docu ment already exist ing narratives. T hruug houe her review J ohnso n- Ross demonsrrares no int erest in Saar's aesehedc vision and is content to d ismiss her work as inaut hentic, as "w illed rath er t han lived : ' U lti mately. this dism issal is dt receed ac a white m useum srrucrure t hat J ohnson- Ross perceives to be showing tOO g reat an interest in validati ng art t hat clea rly in no wa y interests her, "You could say that African-American t hemes have, at presen r. a g reat hold on rhe con re mpora ry g allery and museum age nd a, so even t he New D irect ions, which has a rep utat ion for 'd ifficult ' a rt , wi ll have a place for Alison Saar's narrative folk sculptu re." Indeed. if thi s content ion wert' tr ue, we would be witnessing major needed t ransform at ions R

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T ill PO llTI CS Of SO UL "K T FO K I!VF;J.VON B

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early piece like EncJuUllt sugges ts, t he sou l is complicated . T hat which lures us to pleasure also rakes us close to danger. The soul evoked in Saar's work is nor a si mp listic metaphysical constr uct ion. It is, as Thomas Moore sugges ts in Curt OJ lbe 50111, "closely connected to fare, and th e rums of fate almost always go counter to the expectations and often to rhe desires of t he ego." T he figures t hat inhabi t th e worl d of Saar's work know t his. They know t he cnpred ictabiliry of life and circumst ance. how quickly the good can change to evil, rhe darkness to light. It is this para· doxical myste r),Saar C'a lls us ro em brace in a modern world t hat privileges order and cont rol. t hat de nies t he power of deStiny and fare. Sexual long ing and desire remain one of th e s paces of hum an need where myst ery is encou ntered , where th e will to su rrende r overw helms rational concerns. Many of'Sear's images . includi ng)M} MEMgtM, lmiJiblt /\ IUII , and L4 P," "a Blanca , dep ict da ngerous de sire: Men who seek to ~ss and lure, who leave thei r lovers lost and wondering . Women who lust with a veng eance, whose will to possess and consu me rhe desi red object is as int ense and potent ially violent as that of any ma n. An odd mixtu re of torment and deligh t surfaces in Saar's pieces. 1Xlailflouw is one of the few sculpt ures d isplaying an entire body that is Hghr-colored. The blank down cast look on t his blond- hai red lig ht body bespeaks the existence of a world beyond the white -sup remacist aesthe tics t hat overvalue t hese very tra its. In th is lopsided world, such traits are not markers that incite interest and desire. In Saar's sculpture Sapphirt. she shows an image of conflicred lcngin gs. t he black female who sees herself as most desirable when she has a look of whit eness. Althoug h she appears strong and capable, when her heart and soul are bared she reveals th at she has fragments. bi rs and pieces , whe re her hearr wou ld be. In t he d ark b lue Di oe, (he black female figu re wit h songbird rnagi c in her chest is incomp lete. unrerrain, has a look of hesitatio n. Her long ing is so intense she appears ot herworld ly, as th ou gh wha t she sees from her bri g ht g reen eyes is a world so astou nding it cannot be expressed in mere speech . lnsmllarions such as LOI" PotiM #9 evok e (he desperate yearn ing for love rhat leads folks to lose t heir minds roo as we used fa say in the South , "a shoot -andcur kinda love," the "if I can't have you nobody will." T homas Moore sugs estS rhar "soul is co be fou nd in the vicinity of taboo." Saar's work revea ls a fascin ation wi t h the trag ic d imension of love and desire. Figures like SU'tt' T hONg and Htll fbm Tea 01 T rUl1Ip 'l hi nt at th e power of desir e ro

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An' O N MY MIN lJ

in t he art world . Unfo rcunerely, it is th e type of uninformed hyperboli c assert ion t hat m islead s. even as It deflects attent ion from th e extent to whi ch str uct ures of do mination based on race, sex, and class remai n un changed and intact in galleries and mu seums , funct ionin g to exclude marginal g roups or dism iss t heir work th rough the use of the binary pa ra ~ dig rns j ohnson-Rcss relies on , Trained in trad it ional institutions ro t hink about art in t he usual Eurocentric ways. Alison Saar chose to break with that th inking and reeducate herself. That process of nu rturing crit ical conscious ness enabl ed her {Q form an opposi t ional perspecrive t hat could embrace her hold ing in high esteem vernacular ees chenc practices, es pecia lly folk art , even as she conti nued to be inte rested in canonical works wit hin whit e Wescern classical rrad irions. Freed of t he academic biases common III old -school art departments, which devalue folk an and vernacular cultu re, Saar looked to those rradirions as resources, allowing t hem co shape her aes t het ic. Studyin g African and African- Amer ican art with the black female arti st Samella Lewis as a teacher, SaM found her new directions affirmed . She emb ar ked on research to unco ver sub jug ated kn owledge abo ut African-Amer ican anisrs and be came passionately engaged wi ch folk art ists, in part icul ar t hose who b el ieve t heir work to be visionary, metaph ys icall y gu ided by pow ers g reate r than hum ank ind. T hese arti sts offered an aesth et ic pedagogy t hat ran counter CO the norion of "g reat art" produced primarily for el ite audiences. Saar was impressed by the dept hs of rheir commirmen r to making art . not for fame or money bur for che elevat ion of th e human spine. To these arrisrs, mak ing art was tantamou nt to reli g ious se rvice, and to Saar's amazement th ey were de vour in rhei r asp iratio n "co make art for anyone who would rake t he time to look at it. " Drawing on t hese patterns ofdevot ion, commit ment, and a vis ion of ba t h t he art ist and rhe indi vid ual work as funcnoni ng to serve and sustain life, Slur began co real ize her own ar t isti c destiny. Like her predecessors, she searched in the world around her for mat erial to use in making arr, Work ing with salvaged "found" ob jects. as well as with spec ifically selected and soug ht-afte r materials, Saar beg an to ereare a body of work celebrati ng fusion , cultu ral bo rrowing, and Inter mixing rhar be ars witn ess to a poetics of soul. Agains r a bac kd rop of posr modem not hing ness, fragmentat ion , and loss, Saar's work inv ites us to engage the mysteries of t he soul. Yet as an

Til t PO IlT IC S 0 1' SO UL ART fOR EVt.lt YO N E

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racist icon ograph y it is often depict ed as a site of bet rayal. J USt as lilt' white fema le in racist sexist iconog raphy most ofte n symbolizes inn ocence and virt ue, t he absence of sexual passion, t he black female bod y is usually marked as the opposite. ~bn y of the naked black female bod ies pictured in Saar's work assume sed uct ive poses , t heir bodi es op en for ent ry. As "sweet rbe ngs." b lack femalt's must use sexuality as a means ro survive. Saar suggests rhar thert 15 lnreg rit)' in th is choice. For example. Saar's scu lpture Cleo posits lhat fema le long ing can be- posu ioned as wonhy even as th e- female remains sexual, d riven by passion. Clearly, Saar depicts Salome as a woman d riven b)' unrequited long ing to de-sera)' the ob ject cf ber effecrion and desi re. In Saar's scul pt ure, Salome render ly crad les rhe head of J ohn rhe Bapt ist . Her mouth is ope n as th ough she hopes to b rearhe life. to nurt ure and rescoreall tha t mad de sire has driven her eo descrey, T hat rbe deat h of the longed-for mate does not release Salome from torment is rhe most trag ic and sorrowful culmination of th is taboo de sire. It has d riven her 10 ebe edg e bu t not afforded her peace. These are love's faral iries -c- envy and ,ealously are emo tions that can str ip away reason. creat ing unre solvable Inne r tension and conRict. Yet It IS rhrs su rrende r to an all -consuming yearn ing th at exposes Salom e's sou l. th e vul nerab ilit y she woul d use power, status. and position to mask. Paradox and corn rsdicr ioe are the mysteries of the soul. The weird, t he uncanny art sources of knowledge. To know the self. Saar's work sugg ests. one must open the hean wide and search every pa rt . Thi s requires facing t he unacceptable, i he pe f"o'erse, rhe stra nge. even t he sick. \X/ithout thi s cri tical embrace of meraphysical complexit y th e soul cannot b e understood. Moore contends: "Sometimes deviaricn from t he usual is a special revelation of tru th . In alchem y thi s was referred to as t he op us rrmfY{1 namY{IHl , an effect conrrary to nature, \Vlc m ight see th e same kind of artful unnatu ral expression wit hin our own lives. \Vl hen normality explodes or breaks out inro craaincss or shadow, we mig ht look closely, before run ning for cover and before attempt ing to restore familiar order. at rhe porenrial meani ng fulness of t he event , If we are going to be curious about the soul, we may need to explore its deviations. its perverse tendency to con t r adict expectations," Unlike th e visionary folk anises who inspire her. SaM does nor see the soul as in need of spiritual purification. For her the soul is a site for excavation- holding archeological Stores of emotional meaning to be

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tHUD" Saar. Diva. 1988. \Vood, tin , paim. 32" x 30 " x 10." Courtny ofJa n BIl H",

Gill/ery.

d isrupt and challenge norms. Even when it comes to struct ures of dcmi nanon . racism . sexism, and class bo undaries. love and des ire can lead folks astray. can nite r what app eared to be a fixed dynami c, a set locati on . It is this aspec t of desire t hat Saar capt ures in the piece Fea r a nd PIlJllon. Wi th Inte nse long ing comes the fear and possib ility of berr ayal. Saar h ig hlig hts Ihe b lack: female body precisely b ecause withi n sexist and

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heavyhanded , Saar's Ftrtilt Ground atte sts to the histo rical relat ion black folks have had to land , to th e agrarian Sout h. Bot h T IN CQtf(;1J D emon and The TQbau o DtTfJ{J11are heuming figures. Th e spirit of agsressivt" emp riness and des olat ion conveyed by "the cotton demon " decons rrucrs th e image of wh iteness as pu re and innocenr. Here th e whiteness of the soul. t he interior self, as a sign of dep rivation an d lack , will b e precisely th e stare of being impose d on th ose hum an s enslaved for p rofit, who mu st plant, pick, and harvest t he product. Uh imarely, It is a ba rrenness of sp irit that drives th is demon, an absence of soul. In her recent work Saar continues to explore t he way in which soullessness damages th e human sp irit even as she also creates images that celebrate soulfulness. The black fem ale de picted in th e lith ograph Blo(k Snakt Blm.J has no d iffi culty claim ing a space where she can d ream and desi re, where she can engage in t he soul's reverie. Altho ugh she longs for pleasure that is ming led wi th danger- th e healing poison of the snake that would release her spirit, set it free-she can reach fulfillm ent alone. Her soul can be sat isfied as she lies alone, engaged in passionate erot ic reverie. Lying on red sheets, holdin g her breasts. she bold ly cla ims her passion wit hout fear or shame. Neglected by oth ers. by lovers who do not appea r, she cares for her soul and her body. Wai ting , for her. is t he space for contemplation and reverie. More th an among any oth er g roup of pe op le in th e United State s, In African- Ame ri01n vernacu lar th ere has always been a concern wit h the soul. Unfortunately, T homas Moore's pr eoccupati on wi t h Burocen mc understandi ngs of the soul leads h im to ig nore th is focus on t he soul that black people have consistently high lighted and shared with mainst ream white cult ure. T he aesthetic vision of "soul music" was precisel y one in which a need to care for the soul was foreground ed . As in Saar's work , t hat vernacular emphasis on cu ltivat ing th e soul, searchi ng for depth and mean ing in life. was continually connected ro expe-ie nces of pleasure and de lig ht. Whi le Saar constr ucts a poeti cs of soul in her work th at compels recog nir ion of its dangero us mysteries and po wer, she also revels in th e pleasure of soulfulness. T hat spirit of play and revelry is present in muc h of her work . It is quintesse nt ially expressed in the installat ion SQul StrI'ire Station. A sup erfic ial look at t his installat ion migh t lead one to see on ly quaint folk art- like figure s that seem merely Aat and naive; art fully constr ucted . bur lacking, perhaps , in depth . Yet anyone who looks at t hese

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AItT ON MV MIND

examined without judgment . Refusal to embrace a negat ive, darker side of being is ranram oun r to de nial. Truth . particularly about ehe self, can not be known if any aspect of the soul is repudiated. Th e tru e seeker who longs for self-real ization journeys wh<:-rr ' -er the sou l leads. If is t his releo dess searchi ng that is evet-present in Saar's work: the con sta nt yearni ng for cla rity of vision and insight rhat may or may no t co me . Value is found in th e na t ure of sea rching . That yea rn ing is expressed po litically, in g rie ving for so rrow s in t he pas t tha t werr not ack nowledged. To see Saar's D) iR8 Sln,y in a whire-scpremacise cultu re that wou ld have everyone suppress bot h the hor ror and pain of th at histo rical moment is to engage in an act of rit ual rem em beri ng . SiQ,. Song blindly evokes t hat pain . Saar will not allow the hurt inflict ed upon th e body to be forgon en . It is t he int ensity of sufferi ng that creates t he pas. sio n of remem brance. With rhe insta llati on Fertile Ground, Saar constr ucts visual monuments that bear witness to t he holocaust of slavery and irs afte rm at h. H er int ent is ro rem ind us, to work ab'1li nst the silence and erasures of t he past. Th is work bears witness even as it de ma nds recog nit ion of the rraliry t har black people were and are more than merely our pain . Thi s "more" can be underst ood on ly in a context where th e sou l is recognieed-c- where the experie nces of t he body a re no t seen as th e on ly marke rs of personal integ rity. The state of being that surpasses the bod)' and e ncom~s t he sou l is the ontologi cal understandi ng that has always provided exp loired and oppressed folks bot h t he hope for and the concrete experience of tra nscendence. Enslaved black bodies couJd care for the soul by forgi ng intimat e connect ions and com m un iti es wi rh t he land. The g rou nd is precisely the space where rhe de humanized aspec t of rbe selfca n be laid to rest and an integrity of be ing that t ranscend s the ph ysical plane can be claimed and affirmed . Thi s understand ing of t he power of the ea rt h, present in the religious beliefs held by the Native Amer ican dwellers and the first Africans who journeyed here. not as slaves but as seekers. is a legacy of spiritual resista nce I hat cont inues into the present day. O ffe ring testi mony. Saa r sha res her expe rience of stand ing on t h is g round as a nonSout he rne r, feeling "rhe spi ri rua l presen ce in th e landscape." The inst all at ion is com memorat ive. It does not rake rhe place of rhe expe rience. Saar declares: "I o actually IN t here, ro see that , to have t hat feeling , to sta nd on that ground, to be in tbat place is imporranr . ~ W ith out bei ng

rur eo r-rr cs o r , OUL ARl' fOR EVl!ll, YONr

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OUt t he beaury in ehe everyday, and cele brate t he metaphys ical , she did nor conte m pla te the realit)' t hat no cr itica l framewo rk existed to I hearerically valida re and ilium inare th e sig niIicance of rhis sh ift, its pol ir ica l sub \'l:rsi\'eness, Now she has Iived wit h t he im plicat io ns of her choice and und ersta nds more i n t j mat ely wha t we sac rifice when we choose (Q di ssent , Th e spi rit of sac rifice is ref lected wirh elegance and gra ce in her new piece Heart tlml Sold seC' co ver iHuscrar ion). T he sole of rhe shoe is worn pres umabl y by It rough journey, by th e traversing of te rrains rhar tesr and try th e spirit. That th e path walked is a journey 10 the spi rit is evsde r u by the hea rt t hat surrou nds th e hole in the sole. All rhar is sacrificed is made me an ingful when th e co m plexi t y of the so ul is exposed . revealed . irs bea uty and ime grit), as ever-p resem witness.

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...II T ON M Y ;\II N I>

images wit h an ere for spirit ual complexity sees a bar ren landscape wit h a life force corning from a sign that, like rhe sun, promises to nurt ure. Thar sig n says t hat the soul will be g iven care here - al a mock gaso line sral ion . T hese images link ing man and natu re suggest th at t he ab ility to imagine recbnclogy t hat can invent the automobile, t hat can plunder rhe earth for resou rces to make ga soline to fuel cars, does not rid us of rhe need to care for t he inner life, t he world of t he soul. Technolog y is pte seneed here not as an evil but, rather , as a parallel unive rse,J ust as the car musr be given gas to go forward, to take us where we wanr to go, rhe soul must be acknowled ged -c-culrivered and cared for- if we are to become self-realized human beings. Saar's poeti cs of soul is situated wit hin the context of everyday life. for it is t here that our spirits dwell and stand in need of comfort and shelter, Rather than depiCti ng t he metaphysical plane as exist ing in some evolved high er state be yond the ordinary, Saar's work seeks to reveal the presence of holy spirit in our da ily life. Saar endeavors to create art t hat awakens awareness of the met aphysical, sho wing t hat it may be, as A. David Napier suggesrs in FOrtigll Bodies , "embod ied in t he physical , even in what we recogruze as the inanimate." It is th is oppositional insig ht t hat insp ires vernac ular visionary arti sts. It allows Saar to testify: "~ I work ed once wit h a t ree. I thoug ht about the African and American Ind ian be lief tha t tree spirits had to be at peace before anyrhi ng could be carved from them . I also t hink about t he spirir of iron and t he natu re of iron." Napier conrends: "Ar issue here is not simply what used to be called 'animism,' bu t an ontology, a system of connected ness by which an ind ividu al's awareness of self is pred icated on a system of reciprocal exchanges in the visi ble world , In a uni verse of relarions go verned by Mauss's archaic notion of t he gift - in which ind ividuals 'know' themselves by act ually exchangi ng with ot hers chose object s by wh ich t hey are ' idenrified'<-. knowledge can exist in the absence ofierellecrcalism , since much of what is worth knowing is quite literall y self-evident. T he self, in ocher words, becomes evident throug h a visible demonstra tion of its connectedness." It is this state of be ing. so often unfamiliar (Q those of us in contemporary cult ure. that Saar extols in her work. And for t har reason the work is ofte n crirically misunderstood by bot h t hose indivi d uals who celebrate it and those who see it as superfi cial. Years aso, when Saar first made t he choice to commit herself to an an practi ce rhar would engage t he ordinary, call

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