Our People Internal Exiles

..,a---------Judy Baca: Our People Are The Internal Exiles

_.

Diane Neumaier (From an inter_ l.'ieu· It;irh tht!

Chicana murolul Jud,. Buca)

, To affirm Ihat ll;\ a valid t:llperience. O ur peop care Ih -.... ""I,rnal cxiles. . . I"' I t Th • he when aU other things are working against it. IS a po ~l1ca a~. _at s I , ' \l' I ' _Amerjellns lind slarl bemg tlllle we stop Il'emg ""ucan d' Chicano". When , )'UU can make them Isappear, )'OU can you d eu), a pe0l' e •Ii ".ItUI"C "control tht:m. . I I d'lr. 1 ' lIrc. I It:, 1Il0S \I leu, t The pcop , c camillO< over II H:' bonier frolll MeXiCO. ' E veil t IwIIg ' " I II It:} ., al"e the mosl explOited III the I..os 10 urg'ullze b i nge f weat;ho 15' evt'nlhough they lIrc provitling II vel'Y 10"·'C(IIiI. a or arct, :11. I IOrti,'\, \he 'ct:ollumy in a vel'Y 5ubst
t.

genoci'le, I I,' rkin"" \'en' hard at JUJI I was born at U tillw when every)CK) ... U>I 10'0 ... h uld hein" Allleri,·all. In tilt' carl" r.ftit.-s, tile prevailing it!t'a was that :e~ all l~t:llcl ill. All sl'l'urah: dhnic groups 1i1~?1I1t1 11,I~aP.~}I·a.r ani thou~t American. I IlI'l'er di,1 figure oul what t"':~~~ the school American was hnt (~tlg.~ anJ WO.~l~c;b:~~~II:.\\11:~'il:1 n:;:I~ak Enpish. I .,'stcm, I wus forbidden to spea p k' h' " ~~ lan....a...., I 'tl COllie lillea In" t I" 0 h" ,,- ,," rememl}l'r hClng In room" WI I JI ." l k ' clearly Ihlt diJn't un..It'rstallll thc wonls they wen: 8a)'llIIg, h~t, I"dle~, ,peak thtir , I h- tI .)' wcre }Ccat.l~c I I n . king kids "'frY they wen: Sllpng I wa>l ellS t an Ie I I S ' h 'h I 1110,,1 0 t Ie plllllS -spea .1 languag.:, In dcmentury "c 00 'd ' I I II 1 .k I tllought to mytf'O, treated as if they ....ere retanle all( Ie' IIlC.. , I. rn "....' they're not going to he aMe to ',10 t!lis to 1111.'. I III gOll1g to ea

1\"IHlflili

they're sa)'ing. I . e to 511f'~ Anti I learned vcry tluickly, My mother ~ol'ke. O~l ;C;lI:g::caust tbll English ....ithout un ut;cent. That was re "III1I Por,'k"', 0 ",. blend in ill , 'r. . SI woul lave l I t:l me I accent was lin ulentllcullOn. I~, d 'f h" r routl th.t could have, although at this poml In her II e l! ~ 8 vel Yc~ion wU LIlr d'd 't Like a lot of immigrant people, she felt t at el U h d £ft~ k~ynif was to avoid sufferillg the kind of thillgs that slle a .'Ill . '

i

I WIIS encouraged to be fairly independent-very conlrary to tile socialization most Latin women are given, However, I also had aU those other melisages: get married, hal'e children, do aU that stuff. Bllt I wanted to be an artist. My family didn't want me to he an artist because it was • crazy thing to be. What impact does )'our art have on real life? I think .Iot of the ethic seeped into me: it's not good enouy! just to be an artist. 11010' .... ill you support )'oursclf? What does it mean to the people you live .round? All those questions got to me. So in college I also minored in history and in education. I developed back-up systems, ....hich have proven \'ery valuable in my work. I went to llchool in the sixties at the state unh'enity in Nortbridge, c.lifornia, in the part of the San Fernando Yalley which wall all white. I.ookingacross that campus I would never see a Meltican or a black person orunybody of color. This was before the EEOr program, during the time when we ....ere beginning to agitate for Mrican-American studies, Chicano fludies, Amcrican Indian studies. There were groups of people saying. ~\1;'e're using thuUSlinds of Chicano young men in the Yietnllmesc War. ,. And clearly, in the university system Chicanos lIad no presence. So the lixlies hlld a very powerful innuellcc on me. I had hml all the8e feelings bUI no place to hang tlwm. The Movcmicllto gave me a place to focus thern find arf.rm the fact that I ....asn·t crazy. I was thrown right in the middle of aU that struggle hut was very much i,;olated, The moment I left my comlllunity to go to college, I was isolated from Illy own people hccause nol lllat many of them went 10 college, ami Iwas isolate..1from auy sense of my own culture in the unh'ersit)· system. When I got oul of school, I broughl what I had learned hack to m)' family and listened to their r~l)(lnseli. When I showed her my work, my p-Indmother saitl to me. "What is this? What's it for?" It was clear to lie lhat somehow I had been encouraged not to be 10'110 J was, to use I'ulern European arl as my model. J hadn'l even learned about l..os Tru Grandes, the three greut muraljsts. I even had no idea abOllt murals. III (act, I had been doing mural work for a )'ear before I even heard of the Meltican muralists. ~Iy grandmother wall no dummy. She knew a lot abotlt healing and had kn influcnced hy the Indians in her understanding of religion. It wasn'l llraighl Catholicism because if you hang an amulcla (a liule pouch with 'pecial herbs and things in it) around somebody'll neck to heal them and krtp Ihe spirits away, that's not CathoLicism in tile strictest sense. She. dong with my mother, had raised lIIe, and I saw her a8 3n extremely POwerful person-spiritulllly powerful-and I respected hel', I thought. Iheft are the people I really know and care about. J love these pl~ople. Ind I really want 10 make them understand, make them be part of this prOCess I'm going through. If I'm supposed to be interested in COlll"ullicating, if my work is supposed to elevate the spirit of human beings, lil,t J decided these people are not human beingll? It seemed crazy to

us~ Wcslt;rn European models, to be completely inundlll~d bY.lhat k~lld of culture, when in fact we were sitting in southern CllhfofUla-:wluch AI)' grandmother always referret! to as Mexico. She uSt':.d I~ s~y 1~lOgs to rk "En..lish? Why do you wanl 10 speak English. English is I meJC, '" d"l" 'S"h languouc which people spit, spit Ollt wor s. t IS true: In paOls )'ou can sa; things in ways you 1:8n', in English. It's a milch more Poetic, musical,lovely kind of language.

M)' ideas about how I would make art n~,'er began W~l~. a poliliul anal)'si5. I am moved in the hearl. I see an IS5UC. somethmc I can C~rt

about. and then I go aboul finding 50111li~n!l

in.

the way I can as an a~t15t. If I were a carpenter. I 'J go out and rchUlld thmgs,' Tr I "".,'Ilfe a,1I ~rchl'tecl, I would redesign the architecture. But I have ot ler! I s. sllnp y use what 1001.'1 I ha\'e al hand to address what I core ohout. . 1 got the idea Ihal making art was probab~y one of the most Important human activilies that an)'one could engage III. ~verywhe~e I looked: .U around me I saw people being asked 10 (Iehumanu:e. Crap IS ~umped 11'10 the air so )'011 can't breathe, The streets are overloaded With so many images thai you can'l .'Ice onl: of ttWIII. The sound level is so high t~at you havc to hlock your sense of hearing. t:very aspcct of the sensua~lly and sensibilities (If human beings is (Ieueasing, I alwa)'s IUIlI the feeling ~at art was the cf'lehratinn of the senses, that it was a 1,Iace we kept asinn& I)eoplc to make a leaJl' keep il alliogethcr. ami just let som:thing hap~ft to themselvI:s ill a ref' I Sl':nSllul WilY, A fricml of liline, a Mcxlcan murahsl. used to tell me, "A pain ling should lit: whal it is whclI you. s~~nd ba.ck from ii, jusl what it is: a paintillg. Hut wlll'n you get U!~ 10 It, he &aId, "when ,'ou gt'l up to it, it shoulJ be 1;00(1 enough to cal. So I thoughllO lII)'sclr.' )'eah. IlIat'!! really ""hat it'll ahollt. I want to .10 .'hat.. I wanl to IlIlIkl' arl Ihat will ask pcople 10 llS.~ all of llwir SCII!!e!. It s an Important . II' hUJJlan cmlcll\'or. I had. of course. the ch"icc of making nrl and putting illJlto ga ~nN. !lCCing if I could !!hume III)' Ihings around from place to place an .r!' Ihem shown. Artists, especially SludclltS. plug into that sy~tem 8S:t .e~:11J without e\"er analyzing for whom Ihey make arl-Ihe audience th } h':' , wor • . , n my (.. 'o'e mYP'"I)lllonllI l'lf 10 cOllllllllllienle wilhl h roug I1 I Ilelr 1; , ,. I ' holllt' imagcs had IIeen mnde to disappear. Imuges I grew UjJ with. In I~) .-. had no representation in that world. There was no aesl.hellc I, n~:.rt certain exuberance for color, for exalllple--that was valulaled III t 'll world. I thought to nlyself, if I get my work into galJeric,s, "'h~ Ihere? People in m)' famil)' had UI:,'er heell 10 a gallery In the~ ~ida" lives ~ly neighhors never ""ent 10 galleries, All 1111: people I kne

'":ti:

go to gallcril:s. I k-501Dt" But Ilhou ..ht if 11001. my work to gaUeries---and if I was ue? ~ •• L . ' y might iluy it. 'ow what does buying something mean. t ~"'" IIOU . a b 011 t . Essenll'''J' . limiling I)eople's access to it. That's what owners h'Ip IS

':""'"""'' '=.=.=N'' m=.=''='--',c;;,, ----------------,P·"':;::'tk"."'CAC,:..C,<S.O,C.=.:'.C'A::cAC l'OU huy something, )'OU 0'10'11 it, and yOIl can let people see it or nol. Anel il didn'l make sense to me at the tillle to put art behind some guarded

.,U.

Sofor me, then,lhere wasn't really an)' choice. How many ethnic arlists do yOU know whose works are being shown, even now? I had no wa)' to apply my work to that structure. You couldn't take an aesthetic that ..asn't IlIl1instrt!um into the galleries and have it accepted---(lspecially as J ...·oman. and especially as a Chicana. from 1969 Ihrough roughly 1974, I worked specifically within the Cbicano and Mexicano communit),. That wa!! an interesting proce5ll for lit. diKo\'ering what I could use to address that culture. II wa!! different from my own upbringing, because things challge in the street'!. The tfunomic and politielll circumstances change how people can Ih'e in those a"as. So I had to learn another language-streellanguage. I had to learn .bat things were impacling that communit}' at that time. I had to deal .ith ~ang warfare in a completely different way than when I was a kid, bteause Ihe harrios thai I grew up in didn't have that kind of organi:::ed FIn! warfare, "'hen I gol out of college I started teachingal a Catholic high school-in the lame school I went to-in a program calletl Allied Art!!, an ilIno\'ative teaching program which I desil;ned 10 celebrate the different !l'nses, The kids wrote music, learned basic drama, wrote poetry. We i11lerrelate(! all the arts. It was Q fahulous course for me 10 teach. because • pulled a 101 or Ihings together and helped me understand how to use different techniques to gcl a desired product. People made presentations tii~ three art forms to express one idca. It took over the whole school 'nd became an incredihle event. Kids drove up in a hearse. opencd the ~rk door lind pulled Ollt coffins to do II presentation On (Ieath. There ·rre bands, choral readings, all falmlOlls sturr that really worked as "'Ih·ation. We asked these kids 10 draw up out of Ihemselvc something llat no one else was rCl:!uesting or them. I did my fir!!t mural there. I was Irying to get team cooperation because I1Irre was a problem of division among kids coming from differellt tri~hhorhoods. So I asked them 10 d.raw something together. We took a -lIlan figure, divided il III' into parts, blew it UI) len times its si:r:e, Ittonnected the paris, then dropped it out of a second-story window. It:~ W81 a sixty-foot per on. It caused an ama:r:ing uproar. I saw that 1011 could do an incredible amount of teaching with scale transformation. Changing scale ill that way makes people perceive things differently, Then 1 got hired in a program for the city with twenty artilits. We were ·PflOsed 10 leach at parks all over the'eity. They looked at us and senl ~ hlaek people to Watts and the Mexican people to East Los Angeles. I tnded up in East L.A. (Jet.

r Political Aru, S"b"~Tli,,~Aer. f Di.,,~ N~UtDD;rr Z61

I was given two classes, one at ten in the morning and another One 81 Ihree in the afternoon. It wait twenty-six miles from Illy home, so I would do my morning clan and then hang out in the parks. I began to reaUy watch stred Jjfe. I saw young people, teenagers, adolescents, the thro.... away IH:Orle. Nobody wanted them ill the parks; the Recreation and Parks Department had 110 progrllms planned for them becaulle they WCrt vandals, ~causc they were iJlvoln~d in gang warfare. So they would play dominoes, drink wine, IImoke dope, hang out in \'8rioull corners. There was always this constant battle. The I)()lice would be called to gel rid of Ihem, and the kids would come back, like a flock of pigeons that fly up and land again, So I made friends wilh a 101 of them, 1 met some kids who were involved in talloo work. Of course, they were also writins IU over the walls. Visual symbols, calligraphy basically, were a focal point in their life 011 the IItreel. You could read a waU and learn everything you needed to know ahout that community, about the guys or girls who hung out in the street-who they were, who they hung out with, what gcneration they were, how mallY of them ha(1 the same nickname--1l11 in what they uU pfacayQsos. I ~came something of an expert reader of strect writing. I knew who was who in four or five different neighborhoods hecause I taught It Ilifferent places. I realized I .... as /IIm'ing from Olle part to the nexi. but they couldn't. They could not go fi\'e hlock, ....ithout heing ill danger frora other gangs. Some of the feuds wen~ fifty or sixty years old, Thai ....as m}" constituency. It'll certainly not the .... holc of the Chicano communit)'-l have to say thai I gct nry IlCrturhed whenJH:Ople pcrcei,'t thc Chicano community as hdng people who write all o\'cr the wall.~---but this is a street pheno/llcnon that has been on die inerr-ase. In the sixtitt, it was more politicalilogans: now, it's ahollt territory. II has to do ",ilh people lIa)'ing, "Listen, I own nothing here. So I own )"our waU. lien', who I am." The tattoos are a whole tIling, too, Kills with tattooed tun on their cheeks! What does that sa~· ahout how the kids feel .haul themselvell? What"s going on for them is pretty rough, and it'll refltcttcl in the highest dropout rate in the entire lllition. I laid I wanted to f"rlll a muraitealll. Pretty soon I had a nurnbtr fir people who began to hang with nil:, who trusted me and would do something I asked thclII to do. At thai point nobody knew what a mural was; it walln't the phenomcnon it is now. I had to expluin that we wert' going to do n big picture on the wulL But I had to figure out how ~o the waH hack. It was marked. Who do I have 10 talk to to get permls!tolI to use this wall? So I said to the kids, "Listen, I'm going to take off y~u~ placaylUos. Here's what we're going 10 do. Do yOIl wal1t to work ",,1 us?" It was like negotiating treaties. bt The most imporlant 5kill that I've had to develop in this work i81~ltt able to deal with people in City Hall, then jump in my car, drive ten nll

rc

10 the East Side, change into boots and jeans, and go sit on the curb with me kids. There are people who are bridge people, and my ahilily to mon~ between diose great extremes has made it possihle for me to do what J do. Possibly, hecause J had a universit), education, becallse J became ;lnglici:l;~d to, a certai~ degree.. I was ahle 10 come hack to nlY own romnlllRlty wllh more IIlformatlOn and make things happen. I formed my first mural team of twenty kids from fOllr daferent __ighl)()rhoods. It was the first time in recent history that the)' hatilleen Ible to put aside their differences and work together, That was in 1970. We (lid three piece~ that summer. including Mi Abuc/ita, a giant three_ ,ided balldshell Wltl~ a grandmother im.age in it-my grandmother, ,etuall),. I had to do It on a volunteer baSIS, but I got the kids paid. Vondalism ill the city park system is ill the millions of dollars. The Recreation and Parks Department paints the walls white and dates them' thai wa)', even if the),'re marked again, the puhlic "ill know th~ drpartmcnt took care of its responsibility. Judging by the way the city lpent it!! dollnrs, property damage was the concern, not the fact that kids Iiterttlly die in the parks, o\'crdosing, That's of Iiule significance. What isof 5ignificance is that before these kids fall over Ihey wrile on the walls, It w~s distressing to me to sec kids die, to sel: that human being!> were IIOt as Important as propcrty. I would go to the people in the Recreation ,lid Parks Department thinking that oblJiolUl)' if they could see the \·allle lheir appropriation of moncy reOI."Cted, they would he mOI'C responsive Iothc communit)·. I would SlIy, "Why i!! it that in East L.A. you have II park built in 19"23 witll the smallesl acreage per capita, when it has one Jtbe largest usages illihe cily? Wh)" call't )'OU expand this park? Why don't yOll put ill tcnnis courts?" When t1wy stnrted saying shit to lIIe like, "Mexicani don"t like to play tennis." I started getting the picture. I knew IUt there wall racism, but I t1idll't undcrstand how it was institutional"'d. People were amazed at our wurk. The (,os Angeles Times run sensational artidc.'S like "Teenage Youth Gangs Put Down Kni\'es for Brushes.'" Ttrrible. The head of nee allll Parks came tlowlI to Ihe site--the kids ~ught he WilS a Illlre, and he's IlIcky he got ill and out of Ihcl"{."-lInd "lid to IIle, silllpl)', "How can we hottle ond package what you do?" I kpn to understand that I was becoming to the City of Los Angeles a "lIbllerful instrument of graffiti al.Hltement. But I wall accomplishing IllY !'Ilb at the !lallle time b)' doing Illy own work in the street-which for lit wa clearly 1I0t graffiti abatement. . The grolll) of ,)Cople I was working with was very connected to Dnd .n,uenced by visual symbols-in tull005, in the kind of writing thai went "Uln the street-hut there wall no visible reflection of themselves in the ~er community. Nothing of the architecture or visllalsymbols reflected die presence of the people-other than the graffiti. First il was a .Jewish ~mullit)" then Mexican people moved in. What I could 8(~e was that

any population could 1II0,'e through the place without being reflected in it. Symbols already haclliignificance in this community. and it made senst to create another set of s)'mbols acknowledging the people's commonality, the fact that they came from the same place and had a common cuhure, II seemed to me this could break down the divisions among these people. gi"e them information, ami change their environment. The murals ha"e beell clear forms of expression. renectillg the issues Illld needs as they see them, I think decorative murals are a wllste of time in urban areas, The)"re urban decoration. Band-Aids on cancer, III the first years of this work people eamc b)' alld brought LIS food aod beer, all),thing we lIee(led, The)' wOlild volunteer to help us. It was interesting, because there was a real di\'ision between till' )'oung people from the strt:el alld thcir falllilies; their parents hated them for not bein& good Mexican kids and thought they had gotten complelely Ollt of control. It·s that olrl country-ncw I:oulltry sluff. I rcmelllhl~r one community meeting when some !>O)'S from the White Fl:nce gang ""cre showin! Ibeir designs, (We always do this 10 gh'e pCtlple a chance to I~ome invohed in the I'roceil,~, TlwlI therl: lire no sUl'priseil--collllllunit)' people hate ~Llrpl·ises.) A WllIJI;lI1 in the hack uf the 1'00111 said, "All you e\'cr do if ruin e\'cr)'tlling: in tile communily, You wrile allover e\'er),thillg. Yoo 'I't just worthless. Why sllould w(' help )'ou?" I thought. "My, what an outllUriit of hostility," I thought till: kills weft: Iloing wOllllerfully to get ul' in fronl of II crowd like tlHlt alill ~(lellk-Ihis fl'(J1II Ill'oplll who ,,',ere Ilot esselltiallr \'el"ll(ll, I askl'il, '-Wllo is that?" 0111: ofthl' kid1i aid it "'·u his lIIoll11~r. But \'\"111'11 till' Imrenls saw tlwir kids doillg sarn,·thing posili\'t. ClIIlIICI:tiIJIIS limon:; tile fumiJ)' IIIl'rnhers hegan tn ,1,:vl'lop agaill' Few gids I'urticillllll:d dudn!; that timc" It was milch t:asi,:r organizinl alllollg tIll" )'oullg 1110::11 III"('ausl' girls were not alIowl.'iltlll' same mobilit)·, II has 11(.-':11 II long prOCCS.'lllrllwing tlu: young brirls in. hut it's equal. II'I takcn tllis many )'I"lIrS for til;lt 10 hllpp.:n, You sec. Lltiu women arenol 5u1'1I0:;cll to hl~ doing thing;; lih climbing 011 :;cnffoldillg, being in the IJuhlic eye, FrOlll 19iO to 1914 tlwre was

UII

incredihle outgrowth of murals in

East Los Angeles, It waSII"t just IlIc-other pellple were doing it. too, Till' East Side of Los Angeles ....as becoming fairl)' well known for mural illlabrcry. Sudtlenly there .....as fill upheaval in the barrios; )'011 could drh"t through thelll and s(:e gillllt pieces all Ol'er the "lace" They were powerful and they wcrl~ strong, und they were politiclI!. They talked about ",110 those people .....ere. what they cared al>OlIt, and what they were mad aboUt. The)' talked Ilbollt the issueil in their cOJllmunity from police brulalitylf drug ahuse.

Br taking a small object and lransformin" it inlO a .."ant illl . d'~ e age, )OU I I I k .. I(ac hWh peop e 0 00 at II In a IHerent way' Clau, Old·.'·· k I ' ' ' uergnew a lOut thaI. en your ~hole body fits into the eye of II mOllumcntally rende d htad, )'O~ are gomg. to ~ook ut it ill a way YOIl IIcw:r looked at till: :e e bt-fore. 1 he SlIlIIe Ihlng IS trlle of the issues includ"d ;. " I Y . f h" , ... Ie mura , T8 k·e II piece 0 Istoncal information'' J3::1\ 000 I V. '"'' peop e were Lo dtportet I f rom the California region in the thirties 75 000 f ··1 . " rom~ ( J t was slim ar to what's going on now' w.·,h ., :\ngcIes" .. Ie economic . I • !'l'CCSSlOn peop e IiIreconcerned that Mexican p'o'lle arc takin " . . h Ik' g lelr JO s . h' ~Il d 8gam t ey re ta 109 aboui 'mother Bracero p,o~. )B • ' 'h ' O' m. u you may lIot care.. muc I a out history, That's Ihe altillide you get from a lo! of /"'OJ'lc, Who cares about that fucl?" But t1ICII .f,·, foo d d· , • .' '. ,.... r lily! ren enng tach person", 110 s gc~tmg O~I the tram, lind standing nexi to the oversized (are of someone who Ii feelmg the agony of that deportation Ih . ·d ·f ·h thut feelin, Ax • erelno .·a,' not to I entl y Wit I,·ghl , ' " .. c lllllges )'OU 8ee t ,lem in a dlffercnt way, You make thcm real Yo .. "ok" . 0r ' , ' . . . ,." lapjJcn agalll, take the IllUSIOn of pcn'l>crity . ".k·.. '0"'".. k·1O(If· I ' a concept: k 0 nnage t lal .111 spea" to thaI. Then have people transform the scalc to four limes utural slz,e, At I,he end of that proces8. they can perceive the cOllcept in I subsiantltlll)' dlffel'ent way,

,,·x.·...

.1,·

In 1914 I thought: Well. ~ee t1,li~ is really interc.Ilting. I think anybody ruuld make a mural. Certamly It s blelJk in Ih,·, ".,y '-,' h .. • Le S sce w at we fan do about all the grey concrete walls. There were a lot of artists out u( work a,nd a lot of pcople in differenl communities who could use the "i'pOrtUllIty to let the walls sl)Cak for them. " bad becollle fairl)' friendl)' with a number of political fi!>rures at that I"uot. hecause t~n~y Ilall I:OIIIC to the sitc. seell ""hat J wus floing, helpcd nl~ with the. polll:e who wen: bothering liS, llud 80 forth, I wrote II pilin 10 get the City cooncil to help us pay for an East Side bri,.d Th .." AI' e, ere asn tone ,'eXlcan representative on the whole council not one in f,rtee,n--ev~n though the popllllltioil was III'OUIIII forty per~ellt Chicano Inut mdudl/lg an uncounted population of probably ~lIe or two million uRllocumcnted worker ). One IIf the council members told me "You'/I fI<'\·er t th' 1._.h ' ,ge IS ue<;allse t e)' dOll'l care about the East Side. The),'d like 100~ee ~t drop off into thc occan." I thought, "He's I"iaht. There are fiflclm tuunell meml.·, II, . 0 I u,;rs. Iln( Hive 10 get II pIIs5e(1 h)· all these voles." I... began to understand a whole lot llhout the political process" I went rore a commiuee and got slaughtered, I was just devastated The ~rmher from the San Fernando Valley said. "We don't have anl' g'all"5 'Rnllrarea W d • h . . . , e I l' . e on t ave allY )'outh thllt lleed thIS kmd ofstuff. BeSides, oftrunk we sbould pu I.h em a II···' m Jal" • A lot of racist stuff came out thaI I co Id 'I LI· .•..H e sl1ul. . "What is this. Mexican art?" J had InIfttll\' t .' u II uc leve It ndure aU kinds of abuse,

',",",~o;C.•C"=."C·_=_=';""'"~""'.";;;:'A.,~..~.,S;;....~_;";;·~..~A"d;.;-------------who had I wenl Lac k very (I·lscour u,ed to this black COllllcillllemher U "1 Ol\r-.1 . II II <;Judy youdrcamtoosmn. r- "'l been friendl)" with me. cto ( me,.• h •hi "Ue's fuckin' right!" So I h · head for days anu I oug , overI t alproposal In my .I" ~ .. idea for a city",':ide flIllral program. a very grallUlo..... r wro e a 'f ). a )'car covering n radius 0 O\'cr a It woulrl incorporate orty IlIUrI.l " . . . And "'Olllcl cost in hundred miles in c\'cry ethnic COlllIll\lml~ of the Cit}. r $150 000 . r They ga\'l~ It 10 me. the . ' , or aa 011 .. lUX . months. I had 10 apl.e8r in (ront of.n II area was a0 struggle . . . ho . I 1d vive Illy ,,)iels over anll o\'er again Iypes of committees. WOII C' . I ,. Ia 'hIII , 118 children ar IS" S, Ih e . what it would do or sCllIor CI"flze, . 'profclllliona . . .'y the ASlall commUni hlack cOllllllllnity. the e Illcuno commullI.. . . y,Th e Th . ·t the Chme~ eommUlllt). eQ Korean community. the al comllllllll Y. " I The," mighl f life doing it-a rea Ort ea . •. 0 hel "OU. In fact, they're I spent the next three years 0 ,my

~ea

gi~e you t!l~ m.o:~}·~"~J1I:tt~=:I.;"etl:I:~.g;~I;~~lllllpl:,:uddcul}' they ;:oult! gOIl1~.t:lf~::;I;I~ hirelfrom IIOW on mllst have tllbe~clIlosis tests. Try

say, . I I I ' t ts who don t ha\"f~ transporta_ gclting u t1lOlIsand I)eOJl e til lercu OSIS ~ k ,. The mural would be . 0 " \11 uymellU will take four to SIX wee s. tlOlI .. r. I Jl f k then you'd get whole gangs of kids coming paid them" Cnlzy stuff. That's when I

~ra:; ;o~lh~:u~~sco~~:I~;:v:'n't il~arncd adlllinistralivl~ skill~. .

hi-ethnic lIilllalion. I no longer WIS I also learned how to wor III a mil " I I eiI Ihat organizing in k· I I . the Chicano communlly. earn . M w(lr mg 110 e y III •• r ify different than orgllllizing In t Ihe Chinc!ie community IS roc ICU " ' ,.... llilcd that the . . Ill, (,ltl('k conlllllllll y. ." Ciliclinu cnmmlllllly or III C. '. II k . d SIIW how the black Chicano staff was ahsolutely 1',u<,:JSlag;II~lst,>,a:'I~:t~s in their mural just I r . . ndhcin""aletoarhcuae stye 0 conung III a . . II ck mural that came turnet.l (Iff nt)· laff, ....ho wanted III \·t'to every I a through. . t ,lat program were cultural killlb of pieus; A lllt of the murals done III ounce-for . r··t· ortant statements to aim C\'CII the tOllle (In" were, 10 ac ,lm!1 . I ere no one ","ould h h f F"lipino.'l III a COlllmunllY w I cll:alliple, t e presence (I I " the land in"" of Filipinos in t e acknowledge tlll:lII. There was a pu..'C.e ~I~ M:xican legend of tht Philippine i!llallds, which ~~s \"er~,t:nt;~a:":I:llheave~IC the idea about Azlt'cs arri\"ing in Telloclutlilln. IS " r ',hin'" '''''oplecould overlapping Iegellus. " , 'IOU~ ..ht that was_a Wall( er II .. , ,.._ see how they all conllectcd 1.11 Sante .....a}s. . d he 0 Jen .... orf.rt Some (If the pieces were about pohce brutal~ty o:llmu~ities. Soltlt that goe~ on belweell the police and ~he ~coPtl.e 10 ;~~h~rities ",'ere doi~. were about immigralion, what the mlnlJgr~ Ion bo I drug abu51', and the exploitation of iUegal worke.rs. Ot ;~Sr:e:7n:ot~eC(lmmll"i~" including the government-suPP(lrted 1",fluX °h ~hree people were Imand the Tres issue in Los Ange es, were

til

uu

Ilrisoned for shooting a narcotics agent who wu bringing narcotics int(l the c(lmmunity. A lot of pieccil were on gentrmcalion and urban renewal. (In how the developers' interests arc taking (Icoplc's homes away from thcm. One of Ihe most cOlllrovel"Sial was a piece thai showed, on one side, an idyllic 5cene in the Venice comnlunit)" done in the style of a Persian miniature: on Ihe other side were bulldozers wiping OUI the f(llk., knocking down Ihe slllaU wooden houses on the canals to lIIake roolll for a Jllush condo cit}'. In thecorner WllS a lillIe guy spraying, "Stop the pigs. Save Venice." Before the lIIural was put up. these words had heen llcrawled on the wall in four-foot red leiters. The guy who had done that came to (lur communit)· lIIeeting and said. "My graffiti is more important than your muraL" People thollght that he had sOlllething there and decided to incorporate it into the mural. So the lIIural was sort (If an illustration of his graffiti. The realtors picked III' 011 it alld tried 10 stop us. In fact, just recclllly they Jluinted half of it Ollt before the cOllllllunity found out. To keep the mural 1111 , I had t(l go to ahout twenty meetings. all the ""ay up to Chief Ed Davis, and eXlllain lhat in this case "pig" meant greed. not

police.

It wa5 truly IIIl flTlla::illg experience. We were dealing with problems lltot are munifestcd in the wlwle socielJ. going (lut into these communilies and st.'eing h(lw artists are treatctl. We did 250 murals (I probably dir«led around ISO) and hired (I\'er 1,000 people. It wore DIe oUI-to death. We were pUlling these pieces up 1111 over the cil)", whidl WIIS all fine al1ll good" But al some poinl, heclluse of Ihe sun and the IlOlIuli(ln. and because the murals were in poor communities that were subject to redevelopment, the murals would be torn (/0\\.,.. Tllen the people would ;el up in arms. For example. Iiolllebody would sturt to paint out a llIural when a building OWIWI' hud chullgcII, lind fifty people would be Ollt there with stick~ wall ling 10 heat up the guy. We had organized well in the t'OlIlnlllnities. so Ihey protected their mu"rals. But ""e couldn't get money for maintenance, and it was \'ery difficult 1(1 make buiJding owners keel) Ihe pieceli lip. I also saw artists do just flw[ultliings in the eOlllmuniticli, like coming into all ethnically mixed Community IUld. becuuse the artist was ChieD-lto, p.unting a Chicano piece witll (lnl)' Chicano kids. Sometimes they would incite people to attack a police officer, everybody would be beaten up llId taken to jail-ell:CeIH the artist. Terrible things! I Couldn't handle it anymore. I couldn't contl'Ol the quality of the pieces. 1was tired of liuPl'orting olher people. breakjng my ass and kiJling IIIYself, and being in lhis n(l-man's land position between lhe commllnily tnd the city. The COmmunit}· perceh'ed me as being part of the city bureaucracy, while the officials percei\'ed me as being Il flaming radical from the community!

: 266 Dian.. "'rum.",.. " I P....,_..... '"" ,. -" ' ..b._.i.... A"u

xhausted by the end of il. I decided II .... as '-cr)' hard. and f ....a.s Ye~Yhe d a sUPI)ort groul) operating for Ihe 10 start a nonprofit ~rporalJOn~ I ~ncw al some point the cit)' would Citywide Mural ProJC4:1 bt.'Cal~e h . lieees ....ere lIery political. and I withdraw its suppor!. SO~IlC ~ t ese I wsnl to stop me. III fact, they expected ,fHlt III some POlll! t ey "",011 (Th 're were huge Imttlcs, Iclter '"II' ,I ,lI'O"rum tWice. c " tried to. I. "C'f IIC 1II11rs 10 Save '" I h e r'I lira I" s cOllwlillces. I didn't wanl 10 campsll;fls, I Il:en ' " the time anti no! get to do my own " 'h'" I)'pe of strugg e a ( I I conlmue... II" d'd ',I Uer than a 101 0 peop e was k iall)' lilnCe I aclua)' I I te d Th G wor :spec . 1977 I left the mural project to 0 e real llupportIng 10 do .II. 5 0 In

f

Wall.

I .. b lhat lime-lhe Venice murab, I'd done a number of Olh~~~ lIg4~~ellt fon" Jliece and anOlher couple the Easl L.A. murals. I dl( 8 ·IO~ ~ 'd:e I h' k' that with each artist gI,'en t I originalJ)' hegan the mura I III Ing wondel'ful ieee ""ould corne " responsibilit)" for a segmcn,t of the t~alJ~t~sts were not ~s willing to wor. togcther in sOllie way. Hut. III f.a~t, IC a v rail Jiece as I Ihotlght they with each otller in the Composilion of 0 ~ t' I I dOIl'1 feci that the would he, Thcy created asel'ies of ell,s' PI"lll,"('O"",,' ,c"nlent is different . I Each IllII( re, - . . . . , " fir;st Ihousand feet IS a mural . f I tist and the ,)Cople in the arust and renects the personal stye 0 tie ar . crew. No"," we're doing it with an overall deSign,

fl',

Ill:

Probably one of Ihe hardest things (or me 10 do is 10 recogni:l:e my leadenhip ability becaUi~e I've always been wan ling 10 give il away whenever possible. I Ihink it's part of my cultural thing that comes tip. In Ihe Chicano community, leader8 arc wiped Ollt. People hate leaders. It's not a goolJ position 10 be in, Also, ii's Vcry hal'(l to acknowledge that f have to say "No," "Yes," "You do what I tell you 10 do," or '" have leadership 011 this." Yet I would always take aU the responsibility: I woult! raise all the monc)'; I would do aU the preparatory work; I would be the one who would ultimalely anSwer to evcr)'one and see to it that ever)"one ",'as pllid-but I submitted to a collective process all the decision-making power over the planning of Ihe mural, By 1978 I realized I cOllldn'1 do Ihal again. I really had to decide whelher I wanted the piece 10 go past what it had been in that first summer. I had a vision for ilthat 'Ihought was lIIudl more encompllssing, alld I realized if I really wanted to sce Ihat happen I hnd to Irust my i,lell and trust myself to know that il was going 10 he better (or me to make those decisions. And it was. The Ihing aboul murali!Rl, particlliarly in monumenlaJ pieces, is that collaboration ill a requirement. It isn'llike other arl forms you might be able 10 accomplisli by Jourst:I(. I"'e seen a lot of men in Los Angeles do monumenlal pieces on a IWO-story or eighl-slor,' building, by themselves, Bal The Creul Wall is baSI~d 011 a different conceplioll of Whal art is for, The mural is nol jllst a big picture on a wtlll. The foclis is on cooperation in the prOl;ess U1ulcdying its cl'culion, I could probably go ill to IllY sludio for a year in aJvance and design it: bllt. for one, there's nol that kind offunding tn SUpJ)(lrt III)' work for a }'ear, and, two, Ihe prOCC811 that we use really works in with Ihe overall plall. Witli wlial the historians bring in we de,·e!ol. images to IIU! hack into Jlulllie consciousness information Ihat hall heen losl. It's rl:ally incredihly slimulating and exciting, The Dlural is a conceplual art piece all along, allfltlie finished painting is onl}' one pari of it, To bring talelHI~d young l)Coplc into thc design crew fits the gOllls of thl~ project. It's part of Ihe lelldcl"sflip dt:Vc!0plllelll aspl~cl of Ihe program, gi\'illg kids more lllllllllore JJOWer to mcet lind cnhance their growlh, Also, I think Ihtl mural ill bcller hecaust: it has II number of lIlinds working on it. The hardest part is making the design work as a unified piece, hut Ihe (oUaborlttion On idea8 reall)" ill Wonderful. We sit with the hislorians ami do It "Ialk-through." We write oul a 5tory: -First there was this period ill which JH:ople IhougJII everylhing \fas fme; it was all 'illusion of prosperity. ' Whal was really going on was Prohibition, Ihe whole nappcr image, the COl/ling Crash ... ., It gocli like that. ¥otllalk it through in a lileral way, which develops on ltttitude that romes from people hashing it out togelhcr. In that way, people who are nOI Ihe best al drawing don't have 10 be relied on for that. Jt'll llrchestroting JH:opJe's hest skjJJs, usillg their betler abililies, pUlting them l~etJler where they IIlliteh. It's geomelric ill proportion. II muhipliell the

po...'er that )'011 have by taking the best of other people aud putting ~t,all together in one thing, Ho....ever, one person nlllsl have the overall VISion for it to become a ....hole. When we get hung up, it's 01)' job 10 push things for....ard to set ul> I sitllation in which people can be creative. AI this point I have the ultimate veto )lower when I think something i.s not working. I ha\'e to trust m)' judgement. The pcople who work with me understand Ihal I ha\'e to he able to say, "I jusllhink this is not working." ~hhou¥h the COllcc!)lualiza_ tion takes place in a group, I appro\'e cvery lmage Idea before II goes 10 thUlllhnail. After we develop the thumbnails, I ma)' do as man)' as twent)' diffen:nt drawing studies of Ihe woman carrying a child in the Oust 80,":1 ~ce~le. Then I lake all the thumbnails and submil them to an overall diSCipline of II musical division of space-ratio developmcnt, musical lime 3:5, elc, That's basically how I delll with Ihe overall composition. I also do correctioll.s on everyone'll drawings if Ihings are nol anaIOmicall)' correcl or whate\'er. This way there arc many minds working on Ihe concepti and one arlislic vision pulling il alliogether. I think I oril,rinally had the idea Ihatleaderllhip meant for me to be Ihe penon who crcaled an ell\'ironmeni in which olher people coul.d be creath'e. 'ow I acknowledge the facl that IUiJuall)' han~ more expenence than an)'one else in Ill)' groUI), more llIural cXI)Crienci:_ I've done I trcmCRlIOUIi amount of work at Ihi.s poinl. I've ulso ...·slched a ....hole 101 of other peopl': do a Iremendous illllount of work. AIIII I've made a ,lot of milliakes. Now, ICliderllhip means trusting Illy intuition, which I dunk is fairly hi"hh' dcvelopcll aoout ho.... to Ileal wilh l)Cople. I didn'l iik~ any hierar~hy. I just thoughl that ....e shoulil all be equal. HUI for now, I really can·1 say Ihal's possible. I Ihink if I worked in I situalioll when: 1:\'I'r)'blJlly raisi'd thc money, everybody had responsibility, and e\'crybudy hild the llllme level of experiencc, it ~otlld he fi~e. But even IIICII Ihe world oUlsidc wOUltlllot relate 10 a eollcclH'e answer ln 8 a Iluestioll. Tilcrc·s gol to be Olle penon who ultimatel)' I.akell il on the chin. Maybe l'lll get ling lired, bUI I no longer wal:ll~ lake II for an)'~r e1sc·s misl:lkes 1)I;lllidcs m)' own, Also, when I .1011 I hsten lowhall thmk, I screw up, Of coursc, if a woman tokes this un she's a hitch. a d)'kc, a lIIac~a, I ,Icmunding, difficllh-Io-work~wilh 1>el'5on-all those killds of Ihm?, Those are slereotypes about what a woman is if IIhe's a leader. I III conlicious all the lime of Illy own body. of whal il says 10 peopl~ ",.h~i I'm lalking to Ihem, of the way that I lllie my words 10 communicate.. · a way t ha I co mmunl-I try to use all those parhl and pllll them loget IIeI' III cales from a sofl place in myself-nol Ihe defense/fear place--w~t11 think and what I care abouI, whal I want olher people to do an~ I ; and care aLout. The)' lIlay not care, bUI at least rill communicaUOI; r

~tlitudes 10 thcm. That's how I feel I'm a leader, A 101 of times I can plug ~he J»sychology of a group, Ihe overriding feeling, what Ihe)"re creatlOg for thcmselves-and pull it Ollt ane! say "Let', define il "'I "?"TI', ' ,lat IS It. lal s part 0 m)' ~ol.e as a Ieade~. So much of it is reall}' being a l;oo
I, think the world is hecoming interested in what polilical nrlisls nrc .Io lJlg , Polilical al'l is now perceived as "avant-garde·· or something and Ike pwple trying to gel recognition in this way, I'm not focusing 00 ~hal .~etlOm~ 0 '·h It appe:ns. For eIample, a museum is going 10 be takin" The' ~r~~t WoU Bnd blowing it up, doing a whole Ihing on all the sketch';: and ludles we do 10 make il happen. I dOll't feci that Ihe mainslream art wodd is something I either wllnl · Iy, It ..IS allot hcr k·IIld of audience alltll believe ,loauacko r court. C f:rlam Inaudi eDce d eve Iopmenl. B ut Ih ' public and ere li'a · difference between J'C'rsonal art, and I'm a public arlilil.

1

Z70 O·,~"e •. l'ru

m.'-r f pO/;Ii<'Dr A"., Sul>t'
. t do penonal work I coul,t pur ue H I d~ci~cd .now 10 lake the ~~~~n 0 a group of my frien(~s who ~'ould Imuiug II In (lifferent placcil I~at would rClipond to It. Thai 8 not like it or finding another alllen~ I I ave the IJublic at large relate 10 ., B r I've been trymg 0 I. )"1. " innlh{. ut llO a r " 1 bee h ppening in other areas lIl.e artl Is my work. I think thiS has a so h" ~ s had the capacity for organizing hooks and pcrformance ar~,.w .IC I t~:m to a different ,late of consciouslarge groupS of people and rmgmg

d".

t

ness very quickly. . "ng the entire environmellt that I urhan artist. USI 1 see rn)"se If as an I· i ' I that environment. If l'lll la 'k.Inl; work in, which includes IlC l)CoP ell h ,..·og enhancing. making it viromnent--e al , . about Iransforllllllg an en) 'k. 'g aboul changing Ihe people who ·f' then 1 am a ~o la II . f I more he aut! II It A I>ting the whole reahty 0 lie space live in thai environment as we I' eee -ea and seeing what I can do to h L" .t! ho I'opu ates tea, . means won...ng Wl .I w t'on Th creason 1 work wilh adolescent.'! IJ:l nol I I better the w 10 e sltua I ' . h' .. but because Ihey are the people •..• )" terested 10 teae III", " • h II simply,-"""auk mill" I' also inten:sted in workJIIg Wit a who populute. those puhllc areas., m ·t'·e. local municipalities, Ihe the loca au th on , f the I>ower structures-, U ·00 because the" are part 0 · Teamsters III .' f E Army Corps 0 ngllleers'h ' h 1 would define myself as lin urban the reality of that area. T I~t":ni~w are 1I0t just line, form and color but artist. The elemcnts or Illy { CSI? I r~ tors that are inherent in the spate all the en"ironmental and ac, Til's chancing I:,"erything and and thnt I:aunot be separated rom It. HI " not jllst the facalle.

SOCI;

Fro", Culmreos in Conr"n,ioll

Object Into Subject: Some Thoughts On the Work Of Black Women Artists

Michelle Cliff

In Illy room there is a ,)()stcard of a 8culpture "by the Venetian IIrti l)anese Callaneo, done in the mid-16th eenturv-Blud.· Venw. TI full· length nude figure is bronze. In one hand 8h~ holds a halld-mirr. ill which she is looking at herself. On her "ead is 11 turLan, around th .·.Iges of which her curls are visible. In her other hand slle carries duth-or at least what appears to be II cloth. Who was she? A lilave Perhaps in the artist's own househol.I, or maybe that of his patron---on, of the many Black wOlllen II ragged from Mrica to enter the service 0 ,,"hite [uropeolls. I have 110 idea who she actuaU,. ....as: she was an object then as now. Around this image ure other images of Diack women: Bernadelll" l'oweU, who kille{l the mall ....ho hcat her and is now in Bedforrl Hills; Fannie Loll Hamer; Billie Holiday; Eli7.aheth rreeman, who sued for her freedom and won it, in Massachusetts in the nilleh:cnth century; Josephine Baker: Harriet Tubman, portrayed in a linOCII! b)· Elizabeth Catlelt; womell studcnts nlaking basket furniture at the Hamplon 111_ ~tilute; Luc)" Parsons: Jdll B. WeUs-DanH:tt; Audrc Lorde; Phillis Whellt~ I.,)": two women in Bohwana seated arountl a gourd; Sojourner Truth; wumen in the Black Liheration MO\'cment ill EnglulHI: Betye Saar's Aunt Sally HooDoo; a girlchild balancing a luuin on her head in 80uthern Moca. M}"lIlovingtoward the study orthe ....ork-written and visual-ofRiack women has been II moving toward nlY own wholencss. /'II)' intcrest in this wurk is a deeply personal interest, bf'CallSe through these words and images r heb-in to capture part of who I am. I iihould begin wilh Ill}" title-"Object into Subject." What does it mean? U'c Ii"e in a society whose history is drenchefl in the philosophy and I'ractice of racism, the oppression of Black and other Third World 1~·ul,les. This is the point at which Illy definition begins: if }'ou study radsm_if )'011 understand tile history of the United States-you will find ~hat under racism the person who is oppressed is turned into nil object In the mind of Ihe oppressor. The white anti·racist sOllthern writer Lillian Smith was among the first III offer a metaph)'sical and psycholok,rieal elll'lanation of raciSIll as u I~~nonal aud political American practicel--