#artintheageofblacklivesmatter

[artintheageofblacklivesmatt-blog]

We Gon’ Be Alright!

         Arguably one of the greatest rap artists and entertainers of our generation, Kendrick Lamar never ceases to amaze. His third studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly, touched on topics such as racism, exploitation, cultural appropriation, police brutality, and many other forms of anti-blackness. Building on this, his 2016 Grammy Awards performance received national attention and sparked controversy that created in-depth dialogue concerning racial injustices many African Americans face today.

Lamar’s performance features two songs from To Pimp A Butterfly, “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.” To begin, he approaches the microphone in chains and a prison outfit that he and his background dancers sport. At a certain point, the lights go dark and Lamar moves to a different part of the stage. Here, the performance shifts from a much darker and self-reflective song to one that resembles hope. As he performs “Alright,” dancers dressed in cloth skirts and adorned in body paint surround him. Their movements imitate traditional West African dances. For his performance finale, he freestyles about the death of Trayvon Martin.

When the artist steps on stage in prison attire, he positions the modern-day prison system as an extension of slavery. He recites, “I mean it’s evident that I’m irrelevant to society, that’s what you’re telling me penitentiary would only hire.” This statement highlights how the United States prison system creates laws and rules to incarcerate black men, reducing their bodily value to that of manual labor, much like black bodies were made to perform forced labor during slavery. Also, “Alright” emphasizes that despite the many challenges black people face on a daily basis, we continue to persevere and strive toward a better tomorrow. Lastly, the freestyle he performs addresses the unlawful murder of Trayvon Martin and how his legacy is portrayed. Martin’s death brought myths concerning “post-racial society” and “democratic progress” to the surface of public discourse.

Each song touches on subjects that many try to avoid discussing because they are caught in the illusion that we live in a post-racial society. However, that is not the case. These songs and performances were released at a high point of racial tension due to the state-sanctioned murders of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, and many more. This performance in itself caused reactions that made many reflect on how they live and co-sign mythical ideas concerning racial progress. Lamar’s depiction of black suffering, therefore, advances national debates about whether or not a post-racial society is realistic.

- M.O.

[artintheageofblacklivesmatt-blog]

About the Archive

This archive is a culminating project for the summer 2017 course, “Art in the Age of #BlackLivesMatter,” at the University of Virginia. It is a curated window into the views and discussions we have developed during the course. In conjunction with the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S., we have learned how to analyze works from a variety of artists across a range of mediums, looking closely at art produced since 2012 that addresses contemporary black American social life.

This digital archive contains some of our best analyses and observations concerning key pieces and artists featured in our course material. In analyzing paintings, photographs, collages, films, poems, short stories, graphic novels, and popular music, we formed arguments focused on racial injustice and its persistence in America. We also saw with greater visibility the legacy of slavery in the United States, and how structural oppression permeates the politics of representation. With this project, we have become historians, curators, and creators of contemporary art and culture. By compiling our arts writing in this way, we have catalogued selected works made in the age of Black Lives Matter, and have historicized them in doing so. Our posts are categorized based on medium and genre, and where there are multiple posts on the same art object, we have featured different perspectives. Scrolling through, you will also get a sense of our individual voices, cultural sensibilities, and stylistic tics. We see this archive as a digital platform that facilitates mindful and ethical discussions surrounding so-called political art, providing insight into the relationships between art, race, protest, and representation.        

- Et. al.