Southwest School of Art exhibit digs into issues of race and prejudice – San Antonio Express-News

Ann Sole Sister Johnson remembers her suite mate in college recounting how she was not permitted to set foot in her grandmothers house because her skin was too dark.

It was so casual, the way she said it, said Johnson, who grew up in Wyoming and whose suite mate was from Louisiana. That was my first exposure to colorism being that blatant.

That story, as well as others Johnson has heard over the years, inspired Unwelcome With Converse Tree, an installation thats featured in Re/Devaluing Colorism: Intersections of Skin Color and Currency, a powerful exhibit on display at the Southwest School of Art.

One of the first pieces many visitors will encounter is Naomi Wanjiku Gakungas Nakuona I See You, a towering steel, paper and fabric work cascading from the ceiling in strips, each of which is adorned with quotes from literature and interviews dealing with colorism.

One of the strips includes writer Alice Walkers definition: prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color. For colorism, like colonialism, sexism and racism impedes us.

Where: Southwest School of Art, 300 Augusta.

When: Through April 5.

Catalog release party: 6 to 9 p.m. Jan. 10.

Workshop: Artist Lauren Cross will lead a hands-on workshop for middle and high school girls to create a communal art project dealing with colorsim; it will include the participants thoughts and feelings. Noon to 3 p.m. Jan. 25. Register at swschool.org/exhibitions/dreamweek2020

Performance: Spoken word artist Andrea Vocab Sanderson and choreographer Amber Ortega will perform a piece dealing with colorism. 7 p.m. March 6.

Info:swschool.org.

Another quotes actress Viola Davis saying, Thats the whole racial aspect of colorism: If you are darker than a paper bag, then you are not sexy, you are not a woman, you shouldnt be in the realm of anything that men should desire.

The word Nakuona, Gakunga explains in the wall text for the piece, is Swahili for I see you for all that you are. That sums up her intent with the piece, she writes: By embedding these strong and enduring words into sheet metal, a material known for its strength and durability, I aspire to pass on a message of acknowledgment, empowerment and transformation.

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The exhibit was curated by Aissatou Sidime-Blanton. A collector and former reporter for the Express-News, Sidime-Blanton is involved with the San Antonio Ethnic Art Society and has curated a few exhibits around town. When Chad Dawkins, director of exhibitions for the Southwest School, invited her to pull together a show as a guest curator, she immediately told him she wanted to explore colorism.

It was a passion project, she said. It was something that had been bothering me, something I dealt with as a girl. I thought we had gotten rid of it in the 90s, and Ive seen it recently with the girls that I mentor. I thought, lets dig a little deeper, lets see if we cant help some folks.

From the get-go, Sidime-Blanton knew she wanted to zero in on the work of female artists, and she decided to focus on Texas artists to keep the cost of transporting the work down. She reached out to artists whose work she knew and admired, some of whom she had collected. She also asked those artists and other people she knew who might be good choices for the show.

She noted that colorism crosses cultures and countries.

It is something that has roots around the world for various reasons, she said. In some countries like China and Japan, skin color was shorthand for You come from a wealthy family, because if your girls dont have to work in the fields, their skin doesnt get dark.

The exhibit touches on efforts by cosmetics companies to exploit the desire by some to lighten their skin. Jin-Ya Huangs Look Closer for Make-up That Can Get You Lighter Skin includes products claiming to do just that. She puts magnifying glasses in the display so visitors can get an up-close look at the promises on the labels.

Vicki Meeks Divide and Conquer: Black Baggage is comprised of three tote bags featuring photographs of herself with very different looks. On the left, she wears a blonde wig and is made up with pale skin; the text below her photo reads, If youre white, youre alright. In the middle, shes made up a little darker, with short dark curls; the text reads, If youre brown, stick around. And on the right, her skin is dark and she sports an Afro above a line of text reading, If youre black, get way back.

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I think I probably took a different tack than some of the people because I basically see that issue as a political issue, Meek said. So thats why I chose to look at it from that standpoint, the way in which the idea of dividing people by color became a strategy in all of the cultures. Thats what it was for keeping enslaved people divided.

Johnson drew on personal stories for her installation. It suggests a front yard, with a tree shading a table and two chairs. There is a screen door and a front door, with a womans face in between. The door mat reads unwelcome. And the number on the door 1619 is a reference to the year African American slaves first arrived in the United States.

The inspiration came from her suite mates story, as well as tales from her own family about the way her light-skinned great-grandmother treated relatives with darker pigmentation.

My dad was telling me some family stories, she said. My great-grandmother wouldnt let Aunt So-and-So in her house, and certain relatives would have to sleep on the porch if they stayed over.

What really blew me was was she was Booker T. Washingtons secretary. I was like, how does that work? So its kind of a very personal installation.

The table, chairs and tree originally were part of a larger piece titled Converse: Real Talk that Meek showed at the gallery Women and their Work in Austin in 2016. The idea was to encourage conversation, and the installation worked on that score. Meek is hoping the exhibit at the Southwest School will spark conversation, too.

That is the ultimate goal is to sit down and say, How stupid is this? she said.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN