29 12 / 2011
Innocenza — Jennifer Lorraine Fraser — 2011
(Decided to post up my final project for my class “baroque sightings in modern and contemporary art” because I am so happy about it. Received 83% for my first ever really big art project —- I really want everyone to read it. I think it is important. The pics were printed on acetate and bound in a book form, It is experienced differently like that.)
Innocenza
Jennifer Lorraine Fraser
Baroque Sightings in Modern and Contemporary Art
Dr. John Hatch
He probed life’s surface for the core,
And polished phrases till they bore
The tears of women paid to moan
The feel of coolest marble stone
Song shivered through his chilly soul
Like winds across the icy pole
And the cool truth was ecstasy,
But fancy was as leprosy
The love of truth froze up his heart;
A cold, bare fact to him was art.
He made both soul and body ache
To know how hard the hearts that break;
How high the morning sun must rise
Before the dew on roses dries;
And was so painfully precise
He often doubted his own eyes.
His song was merely fact and tone,
Wither neither soul nor flesh – just bone.
Innocenza is a photographic project that directly references the neo-baroque. The project relates to a dream I had in 2009. Initially I wanted my project to be an analysis of my dream. I was going to use Jung’s dream interpretations as described by Marie-Louise von Franz. During the reflective process I realized that I needed to create something that was less subjective. The subject matter of Innocenza is layered with an important dialectic on gender and racial issues. I focused my research to understand the more objective nature of such imagery and how it can be perceived. I was interested in trying to find a white woman artist who has dealt with the complex issues of race and gender. Through my quest, I stumbled upon a large book in the Weldon library. “The Book of Negroes” compiled by Nancy Cunard in 1934 was my bible. To support my findings, I decided to utilize the Surrealist Manifesto as written by Andre Breton in order to understand the nature of using dream imagery in art. This project is the start of a life changing inquiry into the nature of the world in which I live and how I immerse myself in it. In true neo-baroque hybrid fashion[2], “the baroque is abundant and inclusive, as it must be, to express the cultural diversity of the new world,”[3]I hope my project will invoke further investigations on the ever changing discourse in the ways in which we participate in the world.
The dream consisted of an installation in a gallery setting, a bed clothed in black, three chairs, many Barbies, and a black board on which the audience was to hang the Barbies upon. Individuals would walk through the space and pick up a Barbie from the bed and return to the board and find some way in which to hang the doll, while other participants awaited their turn sitting on the three chairs off to the side. The last image was of an African Canadian man holding a doll and turning to face me along with reaction from three people on the chairs.[4] I remember the gazes of the black male and white spectators, as though it was a very real material occurrence that merely happened moments ago. It is a haunting image in my mind that I am constantly trying to decipher. This project has not manifested itself to be of the same caliber as my dream image. It is not the exact same imagery. I have created images that have come to me through my own intuition, firstly after questioning why I felt the need to recreate my dream, and secondly through the physical realities of my subjects and the restraint of the space and props I had on hand to utilize. The main protagonist, the black male, Mitchell, I asked to be involve with this project has a chronic condition with his ankle. Without a painful twist of his damaged ankle, he could not physically recreate the pose that my dream-protagonist held. This resulted in having to position him in front of my painting in a way that did not hurt him. I did not have access to a large white gallery space, so I had to come up with a way to frame the work within our living room at home. This changed the layout of the image I could take. Instead of black, I decided to also use the stark white duvet which allowed for emphasis on the textural aspects of the fold and the great contrast of white light and the colours of the Barbie dolls.
With the influence of the neo-baroque theories we have been investigating over the past few months, the images I have made for this project are in some ways more extreme than my original dream image, for they are real. One cannot speak of the neo-baroque without inferring the baroque of the 17th century. I attempted to infer this period of art history in my images by the use of light and the emphasis upon the expressions of the subjects involved, as well as to the direct involvement of the viewer.[5] The most dramatic of this is the neo-baroque technique of hybridity, by combining all three into one. The work asks for your full involvement on many levels, it asks for an intimate exploration by physically turning the pages. By using acetate for the projection of the image, I am encouraging a more phenomenological visual experience.[6] The spacial depth of the work involves more movement and it draws the spectator in more deeply. Light is used in a very dramatic way it affects the expression of the people in the image. I removed the ray of light that one would experience in a true baroque work, and replaced it with the squinting of the eyes, to infer a strong light source coming from outside the frame directly into the eyes of the male figures. The female figures are incorporating a stance and expression of confrontation to the spectator. To highlight the need for women to confront the history of racial discrimination and to challenge passive spectatorship in regards to difficult subject matter. I wanted the facial features to denote sanity. For sanity is a true way in which to confront insane histories. In 1927 Edward Franklin Frazier, described race prejudice “as having the same characteristics as those ascribed to insanity.”[7] I wanted my image to show a mastery of emotion and passion, not the opposite, which can result when attempting to highlight “the passions of the soul” in a work of art. I wanted to bring the viewer closer, by the integration of real and fixative space,[8]which would not have happened if I asked for the subjects of my work to look threatening or insane. They are projecting strength and a necessary confrontation with a question. I included the old camera into the image, to describe the historical time period I am investigating as well as in how black men continue to be looked at in our society. The dolls speak to the concept of “passing” in society, for a black man or woman it was to pass as white so as to participate in the society,[9] not to be shunned or excluded. White women have done the same throughout history, in order to pass as men. The doll Mitchell is holding has red hair, it is my attempt of inserting myself into the image, the dolls are passing as real women, to speak of their desires as well as their fears of what would of happened if they didn’t follow a white male controlled group. “If the treatment of all women could be universally known to all, it would help the progress of mankind. Men won’t admit it, but women have set the standard of living that has developed the culture in the world today.”[10]
I took as Breton described an interior reality[11] and connected it to an external reality – In doing so I have come to realize a very important action of love. This is a project based on love; real true unconditional and sublime. This type of love wishes to replace the chill of hatred to the bone with the warmth of love to the heart. An action I need to own as being a white woman. An action I need to own by the fact that I have a young brother, pictured in the work, who is finding his own way in the world. A world of multiplicity in gender and racial conflicts of which exist on numerous levels today. I want to own the history of false accusations white women have implied, incarcerated and murdered black men with. I want that history that unfolds daily, to stop here with my project. To paraphrase bell hooks white women cannot speak for black men nor can we hide the fact that there is a division between us, a division that is founded upon the white patriarchal system of which we live.[12] What white women can do is acknowledge and accept the horrific past, and embrace change. Offer an apology to those who have been damaged by our fear and desires for the other through our own ignorance and inability to challenge systems of abuse and power. This project is an apology for our involvement in constant discrimination and loss of life and selfhood. “There is no solution outside love.”[13]
Bibliography:
Breton, Andre. What is Surrealism. Translated by David Cascoyne. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd. 1974
Brooks, Jonathan. The Poet in Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. edited by Nancy Cunard New York: Negro University Press. 1934
Cunnard, Nancy, compiled: Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. New York: Negro University Press. 1934
Gordon, Taylor. Malicious Lies Magnifying the truth, in Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. edited by Nancy Cunard New York: Negro University Press. 1934
Hatch, Dr. John, Class Lecture notes from September 9 2011
hooks, bell. We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. New York and London: Routledge. 2004
Hurston, Zora Neale. Characteristics of Negro Expression, in Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. edited by Nancy Cunard New York: Negro University Press. 1934
Martin, John Rupert. Baroque. New York : Harper & Row, 1977. 1st edition US.
Ndalianis, Angela. Architectures of the senses: Neo-Baroque Entertainment Spectacles in Rethinking media change: the aesthetics of transition edited by David Thorburn and Henry Jenkins MIT Press 2003
Zamora, Lois Parkinson. Magical Ruins, Magical Realism: Alejo Carpentier, Francois de Nome and the new world baroque, in Poetics of the Americas: Race, Founding and Textuality, Edited by Bainard Cowan and Jefferson Humphries. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge and London. 1997 p. 63-103
[1] Brooks, Jonathan, in Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. edited by Nancy Cunard New York: Negro University Press. 1934 p.423
[2] Zamora, Lois Parkinson, Magical Ruins, Magical Realism : Alejo Carpentier. Francois de Nome and the new world baroque, in Poetics of the Americas Race, Founding and Textuality, Edited by Bainard Cowan and Jefferson Humphries Louisianna State University Press Baton Rouge and London, 1997 p.79
[6] Ndalianis, Angela, Architectures of the senses: Neo-Baroque Entertainment Spectacles in Rethinking media change: the aesthetics of transition edited by David Thorburn and Henry Jenkins MIT Press 2003
[7] Frazier, Edward Franklin, The Pathology of Race Prejudice, in Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. edited by Nancy Cunard New York: Negro University Press. 1934 p.116
[9] Hurston, Zora Neale Characteristics of Negro Expression, in Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. edited by Nancy Cunard New York: Negro University Press. 1934 78
[10] Gordon, Taylor, Malicious Lies Magnifying the truth, in Negro Anthology: 1931-1932. edited by Nancy Cunard New York: Negro University Press. 1934 p.79
[11] Breton, Andre. What is Surrealism. Translated by David Cascoyne. New York: Haskell House Publishers Ltd. 1974 13/14
[12] hooks, bell. We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity. New York and London: Routledge. 2004 (I really wanted to speak of this project in terms prescribed by bell hooks. Unfortunately, once I began reading the text further I felt as though she is coming from a place of anger towards black men. This place is somewhat necessary in other disciplines and understandings of race relations, though it is not somewhere I wish for my own project to go. Her introduction is fantastic she says she is writing the book in order to “continue to do the work of true love.” That sentiment moved me, unfortunately I feel as though further into the book is not found a manifestation of this love. Instead it seems as though she is actually perpetuating the stigma and powerlessness the black male has in our society. I think she is too personally angry with black men to be able to speak to the situation. Even though her anger is completely justifiable it does not reflect my intentions at all.)
18 12 / 2011
Good Night and Sweet Dreams
Sampling of poetry I wrote between the ages of 16-25
Recorded at The House of Miracles by Andy Magoffin sometime in the 2000’s
18 12 / 2011
one day…. a long long time ago
I had a friend who wasn’t a friend, a group of friends actually who tried to put out my fire…. a couple of times, this one friend told me to do something for myself. To stop trying to help others, by being a champion of their spirit, their art. a jealous friend. I am so thankful for their bitterness as I began to Rock!!! What has come now is that I can still champion those I believe in as we saw with the blog I was writing, I can go and dance to music made by friends I believe in and I can do my own thing. Little did she know I was working so hard on my own things. Wrote two booklettes, one of poetry the other of short stories. a bunch of other things happened….
Tonight I became inspired by Ron Mann’s documentary poetry in motion from 1982 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084514/. A few years ago, about 6, I recorded my first poetry compilation with Andy Magoffin from the House of Miracles http://www.thetwominutemiracles.com/ For years I was angry with myself for being so monotone in the recordings… well not anymore I’m going to take the multitude of images I have been in over the years and add my poetry to them. It may turn out to be a narcissitic act… In the end who knows… maybe one of you will like it : ) I’ll keep you posted! Until then I will be putting up some of the images.
beautiful day wishes!! Keep shining!!
Jennifer Lorraine Fraser
