making space
university of pittsburgh
studio arts senior exhibition
november 2020
Brianna
Mims
As an artist that shares work in predominantly white spaces, I regularly struggle with artistic purpose. Pacing between a socio-personal need to celebrate blackness and a systemic need to unveil white supremacy. That unveiling often entails engaging with racially triggering content. Although painful, it holds a mirror up to reveal ideas that were once external.
Without active awareness these ideological thoughts run laps in my brain. Engraving trenches for extended stay. Through the process of making, I understand how these thoughts do not belong to me. Similar to conservation of matter. Small burdens dealt from various social institutions; they accumulate. Without a sense of community, these burdens face no opposition. They have no return sender. The only thing left to do is to give them up, give them over to my art. That is where they take refuge and when I find solace. Otherwise I wouldn’t know how to exist.
