This is the essay that was written for the show “close to the Edge” that I curated along with Reynolds. It was written by C. Daniel Dawson.
Let me start by saying that Daniel is a genius, I know how humble of a person he is, but it’s simply the truth. Rarely have a met a man who has it all, But Daniel does. He is a person who not only continually inspires and teaches me, but does it in such a way. That some times it takes me a day for decipher all of the information that I received. It’s a beautiful thing.
You know I have been blessed by meeting some of the brightest people around. My fathers always said the trick to getting any thing done or to truly learning is to keep people much brighter than you around.
And my mentors and Heros have been people Like, My father Stephen Sampson, Randall Morris, The Very Reverend Dean Parks Morton, Marsha Tucker, Peggy Harrington,Verne Oliver, Brook Anderson and now Danny Dawson. I have been truly blessed.
In any case please read the essay that C.Daniel Dawson wrote for my show close to the edge, Its genius………….
Close to the Edge .
Rush Philanthropic Corridor Gallery
334 Grand Avenue - Brooklyn, NY 11238
November the 16th to January the 18th, 2008
The Opening reception is Sunday November the 16, 2008 3-7 PM...
Kevin Blythe Sampson and Reynolds (Curators)
Artists include: Hervé Constant, Jerry Gant, Janet Henry, Ujima Kuumba Majied, William Morgan, Teri Richardson, Kevin Blythe Sampson, Reynolds, Florence Wint, Yolande Hunter and her Husband Hassan (Hastyle the barber)
QUILOMBO OF THE MIND (AND OF THE GALLERY SPACE)
REFLECTIONS ON THE EXHIBIT CLOSE TO THE EDGE
Quilombos, palenques and maroon societies were/are historic entities created in the Americas by self-liberated Africans in their desire to create spaces in which they could live without European enslavement, colonization or oppression. Those liberated spaces in the days of slavery could take the form of autonomous political republics like the Quilombo dos Palmares in Brazil or the Palenque of Yanga in New Spain, both founded in the early 1600s. Thousands of these communities still exist in the Americas. Most importantly, in contemporary times, maroon societies can continue living as independent cultural institutions, or even as a free state of mind. In creating the exhibit Close to the Edge: Exploring Artists Undivided, curators Kevin Blythe Sampson and Reynolds wanted “art that was not limited to the arbitrary definition of where it fit.”* They were tired of capricious categorizations, like self-taught and academically trained, that prevented artists from working together. Moreover, these subjective categories carried value judgments that affected who would be exhibited, and ultimately, what type of financial rewards they would receive.
While conscious of the philosophical limitations of the art scene as commonly constructed, Sampson and Reynolds strove to create an exhibition and intellectual space that functioned as a Quilombo of the Mind and of the Gallery Space, that is to say, a liberated, visionary location in the artistic world. For me, Close to the Edge succeeds in the curators’ quest for artistic unity because it uses many of techniques that made for successful historic Quilombos, like being multi-cultural and multi-dimensional. The original Quilombo dos Palmares, like this exhibit, had people “from different races, countries, cultures and backgrounds” which enabled them to benefit from “a wealth of experience, vision and power.” This multi-culturalism also allowed the exhibit to more accurately reflect the world that we all inhabit. The multi-dimensional artists selected—, Hervé Constant, Jerry Gant, Janet Olivia Henry, Ujima Kuumba Majied, William Morgan, Reyonlds, Teri Richardson, Kevin Blythe Sampson, Yolande Hunter and Hastyle the barber and Florence Wint-- also help to dissolve the class hierarchy often found in galleries and museums where there is a premium placed on academy or university trained artists. They are “street artists, carvers, storytellers, abstract expressionists, sculptors and painters,” with a few others working in printmaking, photography, film and video. Not just artists, they function in the real world as custodians, police officers, steel workers, teachers, poets, performers and art activists. In fact, their artistic production is informed and enriched by their living experience as workers and providers.
The curators also did not want to participate in a debate of trained artist versus self-taught artist, because they viewed both sides as equally valid with “the same beauty and power and lure.” As part of the exhibit title explains, they are in the process of “Exploring Artists Undivided.” It is accurate and necessary to recognize this exhibit as symbolic of a process, not just one act to mount an exhibit to redress a grievance. The exhibit represents a process of opening and continuing “a dialogue that is about culture and history.” Activating and sustaining this process are the curators’ motives, which are both political and therapeutic. Sampson and Reynolds want to “begin healing the cracks in the foundations that have separated the self-taught art world from the academic art world, and place things in their proper place: together.” The historic quilombos, palenques and maroon societies had an incredible, although often unacknowledged, influence on political ideas in this hemisphere. Existing before there was a United States, a Mexico, a Cuba, a Brazil, etc., they were the first non-indigenous, independent republics in the Americas. Therefore, they represented a socio-political model that allowed those oppressed by the European colonial powers, be they European, African or Native American, to see that they could separate themselves from abuse and chart a course of independence and freedom. Hopefully, the work of Kevin Blythe Sampson and Reynolds in the creating of Close to the Edge: Exploring Artists Undivided will show what the Africans knew and taught the colonies, that the “edge” can, with some courage, insight and struggle, become a more equitable and fulfilling center.
C. Daniel Dawson
New York City
November 2, 2008
C. Daniel Dawson
C. Daniel Dawson is a scholar and lecturer of African Diaspora and its impact on American culture. A multi-talented artist, Professor Dawson has worked as a photographer, filmmaker, curator, and arts administrator.
He has served as Curator of Photography, Film and Video at the Studio Museum in Harlem (NYC), Director of Special Projects at the Caribbean Cultural Center (NYC) and Curatorial Consultant and Director of Education at the Museum for African Art (NYC).
As a photographer, he has shown in over 35 exhibitions. In addition, he has curated more than 50 exhibitions. Prof. Dawson has also been associated with many prize-winning films including Head and Heart by James Mannas and Capoeiras of Brazil by Warrington Hudlin. He has worked as a consultant for the Cooper Hewitt Museum, International Center for Photography, Lincoln Center, Ralph Appelbaum Associates and three different divisions of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
As a scholar, he has lectured at the House of World Cultures (Berlin), the University of California-Berkeley, University of Texas-Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, New School for Social Research, Columbia University, Princeton University and the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, Brazil.
Dawson has also taught seminars on African Spirituality in the Americas at the University of Iowa, New York University, and Yale University.
Professor Dawson is an expert on the history of maroon societies, communities of color that have fought for and established "liberated zones" of social, political, and artistic sovereignty in the past and the present. He lectures frequently on the subject, and is co-author of Capoeira: A Martial Art and a Cultural Tradition (Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1999).
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