One of the reasons why I felt enthralled by the artwork is because the artist has mastered capturing the viewer’s eyes by forming fragmented black individuals that unapologetically return the gaze to the spectator. The artist is aware that ‘when working with black bodies, it becomes immediately political’, and in that sense the artist endeavours to force the observer into a dialogue.
Arturo Desimone (1984), artist, writer, poet from Aruba wrote two poems for Heather Heyer, who was killed in a clash between protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 2017.
In London the Black Cultural Archives hosted a pop-up exhibition covering the stories of Britain’s mixed race babies from American GIs. The photographic exhibit is based on the children born to white women and black Americans. This dichotomy of a bi-racial identity has long existed in social, racial and political affairs. Historically however it has not been given the space to be explored neither by the white status quo nor the black community. Herein lies the difficult conversation of navigating between both worlds and whilst feeling no belonging to either.
Emotion is a significant force in Landvreugd’s art. And of course, it helps if you know something of the artist’s background and if you take an interest in the public debate on colonialism and racism in the Netherlands. Landvreugd seems to want to combine knowledge and emotion. By doing so, he creates space for the possibility of insight beyond the personal and the anecdotal.
Yah, the present day African is still suffering from the effects of the Berlin Conference and they still need to be reminded that they were great before that happened, that they are beautiful in their skin and that their lands are precious. So I borrow from African history, Buganda traditional culture, black nationalistic teachings and African-American culture/pop-culture.