Barbara Jones-Hogu
Unite, 1971.
About:
Barbara Jones-Hogu is a painter, printmaker, filmmaker, and educator from Chicago. She studied at Howard University, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Institute of Design at IIT. She was a member of the OBAC Visual Artists Workshop and painted the actors’ section of the Wall of Respect. In 1968, together with four other artists, she co-founded AFRICOBRA, the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists. Her work has appeared in exhibitions in Chicago and around the United States, and has been collected by many major institutions. Currently she is pursuing a Master’s degree in film from Governors State University.
Nation Time.
Quotes:
“Personally, I was not concerned about the distributions of prints before AFRICOBRA. The political potential of distributing prints to more people was discussed as a part of AFRICOBRA, in terms of doing prints so that “everyone who wanted one could have one.” We did prints for each member’s message in the painting of their choice and distribution was a key element for the prints. All of our messages were considered political at this point.”
Godschild.
Rise and Take Controle.
To be Free.
“Well, I was already into doing political content when I was at IIT. You know, most of my woodcuts were political. In fact, most of my images were political but took a negative viewpoint from a racial standpoint when creating a critique of our multiple racial societies. I would say the content shifted and became more positive after I went into AFRICOBRA, because I was basically wanting to give a message in terms of action, direction, and ideas to think about to my people as the viewer, whereas the prints that I did before were always an indictment for contemplation and action against the society in which we live.”
(quotes from interview by Rebecca Zorach and Skyla Hearn for Never The Same, 2012)