The Supper Table Goes to Jasper County!

THE MORRIS CENTER FOR LOWCOUNTRY HERITAGE

We’re delighted to announce that the Supper Table, the Jasper Project’s most ambitious project to date, is traveling to the South Carolina Lowcountry this summer for a 6-month-long residency at the Morris Center for Low Country Heritage in Ridgeland, Jasper County, South Carolina.

The Supper Table, an homage to the 40th anniversary of Judy Chicago’s 1979 epic feminist art exhibition, is a multidisciplinary arts project celebrating the history and contributions of 12 extraordinary South Carolina women and featuring the work of almost 60 of South Carolina’s most outstanding women artists in the visual, literary, theatrical, and film arts.

Place setting honoring SC artist Eartha Kitt by Mana Hewitt

The Supper Table was created between 2018 and 2019 and began touring the state in November 2019, traveling from Columbia to Irmo, Camden, Florence, Lake City, and more, but its itinerary was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. For more information on the women honored with seats at the table created by outstanding SC women artists, as well as the writers, filmmakers, theatre artists, visual artists, and portrait artist Kirkland Smith, please visit the Supper Table page on the Jasper Project website.

Place setting honoring SC’s Dr. Matilda Evans by SC artist Rene Rouillier

The Morris Center for Low Country Heritage has a number of educational and interpretive events planned to further explore and celebrate the Supper Table including the following.

7/16/2022

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Table Talk: The Supper Table Opening

Kayleigh Vaughn/Cindi Boiter

Part history lesson, part art installation, all homage. The Supper Table, its origins and impact on South Carolina Women’s History is the topic of conversation with Morris Center Curator Kayleigh Vaughn and Jasper Project Director Cindi Boiter.

https://www.morrisheritagecenter.org/events/table-talk/

8/12/2022

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Take a Seat: Visual Artists' Panel

Tonya Gregg, BA Hohman, Flavia Lovatelli

Enjoy some lively table talk as several of the visual artists from The Supper Table discuss their role and process in contributing to the art installation.

https://www.morrisheritagecenter.org/events/take-a-seat-visual-artists-panel/

Many of the SC artists involved in the Supper Table project

9/20/2022

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

South Carolina "Herstory"

Dr. Valinda Littlefield

Scores of women have left an indelible mark on “herstory” in the Palmetto State. This inspiring talk connects to The Supper Table.

https://www.morrisheritagecenter.org/events/south-carolina-herstory/

10/21/2022

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Take a Seat: Writers' Panel

Christina Xan, Claudia Smith Brinson, Kristine Hartvigsen

Food for thought? In conjunction with The Supper Table, several writers share about their role and process contributing to the exhibition.

11/18/2022

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Take a Seat: Filmmakers' Panel

Ebony Wilson, Carleen Maur, LeeAnn Kornegay

Food for thought? In conjunction with The Supper Table, several filmmakers share about their role and process contributing to the exhibition.

THE BEAT: Former Voice contestant CammWess debuts new single, video for “Tired”

By Kyle Petersen

It’s been a few years since Columbia area native CammWess made somewhat of a splash on season 18 of NBC’s The Voice. The young, fresh-faced R&B singer got to work with one of his biggest inspirations and influences in John Legend at just 21 years old, and ultimately finished 4th on the show, just shy of the finals.

The reason he was on The Voice at all, of course, is his tremendous talent. Blessed with a deep, sultry voice capable of rattling the rafters as well as a crooning falsetto, CammWess also demonstrated some budding songwriting chops on the show and was allowed to premiere an original, “Save it for Tomorrow,” in addition to his covers of tunes The Weeknd’s “Earned It,” Prince’s “Purple Rain,” and “Say Something (I’m Giving Up On You),” A Great Big World song famously performed with Christina Aguilera.

While the peak of his fame on the show was unfortunately timed with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, CammWess has doubled down on his original material in recent years, including his most recent single “Tired.”

In addition to showcasing his consummate vocal talent and increasingly polished songcraft, the tune features fluttery background vocal processing that lends a contemporary edge and hints at a more adventurous production style in the artist’s future. But most compelling is the video from HoneyButter productions, a fully formed production that brings the song’s romantic heartbreak to life. View it below. CammWess is set to play the SolFest RollFest in Earlewood Park July 2.

Announcing the Winner of the Inaugural Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer BIPOC Chapbook Prize - Maria S. Picone

Maria S. Picone (photo courtesy of the artist)

It is with great joy that the Jasper Project announces that the winner of the inaugural Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer Poetry Chapbook Prize is Maria S. Picone of Myrtle Beach, SC for her chapbook entitled, Sky Sea Edict.

Maria S. Picone/수영 is a Korean American adoptee who won Cream City Review’s 2020 Summer Poetry Prize. She has been published in Tahoma Literary Review, The Seventh Wave, Fractured Lit and Best Small Fictions 2021. Her work has been supported by Lighthouse Writers, GrubStreet, Kenyon Review, and Tin House. She is a 2022 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Kundiman Fellow and Chestnut Review and The Petigru Review's managing editor. 

Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer (1868-1936) was a teacher and social activist in Orangeburg, SC. Born in Pickens, SC, she taught at the Normal and Grammar Schools at Claflin College for 40 years. Her published anthology of poems Prejudice Unveiled, and Other Poems (1907) examined the Jim Crow South’s propensity for lynching, racism, and social injustice. Moorer was also an advocate for women’s suffrage in South Carolina, especially in the Methodist Church. 

The purpose of the Lizelia August Jenkins Moorer Prize, affectionately called the Lizelia Prize, is to offer a BIPOC poet from SC a publishing contract with Muddy Ford Press to publish their debut chapbook under the guidance of an established poet. The inspiration of Dr. Len Lawson, who is a member of the Jasper Project board of directors and the author, editor, or co-editor of four books of poetry, Lawson will also serve as editor of Picone’s chapbook and will collaborate with them on the construction of the book. Picone will receive publication via Muddy Ford Press, a cash prize, and ten author copies of the book.

This year’s judge of the more than 10 submissions was Raena Shirali. Shirali is a poet, editor, and educator from Charleston, SC. Her first book, GILT (YesYes Books, 2017), won the 2018 Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award, and her forthcoming collection, summonings, won the 2021 Black Lawrence Press Hudson Prize. Winner of a Pushcart Prize & a former Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University, Shirali is also the recipient of prizes and honors from VIDA, Gulf Coast, Boston Review, & Cosmonauts Avenue. She holds an MFA in Poetry from The Ohio State University and is an Assistant Professor of English at Holy Family University, where she serves as Faculty Advisor for Folio—a literary magazine dedicated to publishing works by undergraduate students at the national level. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A Day, The Nation, The Rumpus, & elsewhere.

About Picone’s work, Shirai writes, “What does it mean to belong—to a country, to a culture, to oneself? Maria S. Picone’s work is defined by these questions, and her work joins a storied lineage of Asian American authors who have wondered the same. Dense, insistent, and endlessly rewarding, Sky Sea Edict studies loss through identity and identity through loss in poems overflowing with language and yet marked by their empty spaces. These poems defiantly experiment, crossing text out, attempting language by repeating, iterating, attempting, scrapping it all and trying, again, to learn a mother tongue. Sky Sea Edict is a glorious declaration of oppositional existence, a vibrantly musical exploration that—as Picone herself writes—“weigh[s] these lucks against the lacks.”

Lawson is also delighted with the outcome of the inaugural poetry competition, saying, “Maria S. Picone translates her experience as a Korean adoptee in the South into the language of poetry, filling in any gaps with compelling verse, connecting her timeline with her original and adopted tongues. She braves the unknown in her life with these courageous words, offering a free-spirited narrative we must observe from all angles of both sky and sea. Picone has a voice to remember going forward.”

Lawsone continues, “The legacy of South Carolina poets of color became the impetus of this project with the example of Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer at the forefront. Her poetry and service to South Carolina presents a beacon for any artists of color seeking to make a permanent mark in their communities. My hope is for this project to endure as more gifted voices emerge from our state.”

For more information about Maria S. Picone please visit her website.

PRINT WORTHY: MALIK Green from the Pages of Jasper Magazine Fall 2021 + NEW WORK

Keep your eye on this outstanding young artist!

In fall 2021, the Jasper Project ran a brief article on emerging artist Malik Greene. Since then, we’ve been keeping an eye on Malik and his work and, as we suspected it would, the quality has continued to improve and the content has continued to venture into braver, more dynamic, and more unsettling territory.

Below, please find our original interview with the artist and, following that, a sampling of some of Greene’s powerful new art.

JASPER: First, tell us about yourself, please. The normal stuff -- how old are you, where are you from, where did you go to school? 

GREENE: Hey, what’s up, my name is Malik Greene, I was born on July 8th, 1997. I was born and raised in Columbia, South Carolina, but in 2019 I received my bachelor's degree in psychology with a late minor in studio art from Coastal Carolina University. 

JASPER: How did you get started painting? 

GREENE: I've always had a curious mind and just wanted to find my own way to be different turned me to an exploration of self; figuring out where I stand in this world and what it is I want to accomplish in my time here honestly led me to dabble my hand in anything that conveyed self-expression. As a kid, I gravitated towards art forms such as illustration and clothing design through learned experiences with family and friends, but I developed a strong passion for painting my second semester of college. I actually made my first painting on the floor of my best friend’s dorm freshman year, so I have a pretty vivid memory of my origin as an artist. I remember ripping up an old trash bag and splattering paint as my heart desired. After I made this first painting, I unintentionally started a fire that still burns today and one painting turned into two and two into four now my entire life is covered in paint… I love it! 

JASPER: What’s your favorite medium? 

GREENE: I think for me I love how tangible paint is, so I'm constantly amused by how it moves, dries, is applied -- it's almost like a science for me mixing the paints. specifically, I am intrigued by the naturalness of oil paint, and I love that from its origin until its completion finishing a painting is almost like solving a puzzle.

JASPER: What visual artists have influenced you and your work most and why? 

GREENE: I think for me I like to be my own biggest influence. I kind of love that I do not know of any artists who create work that looks like mine, especially in my geographic location! My work is uniquely mine and I love how it is strengthened based on the fact that it comes from my own conception. Of course, I have been inspired and have artists that I do admire. George Condo was the first artist whose work I researched greatly and early into my creation of art he was definitely my biggest influence.

Art goes deeper than just something that is pretty I think art can make one uncomfortable and curious respectively, so I seek artists who entertain my psychology and the unconscious pleasures. From older, more venerated artists like Kerry James Marshall (who has become my favorite artist) and Lucian Freud who plays around with texture to younger artists like Gerald Lovell and Reginald Sylvester II, I am truly inspired by artists who do things their own way, aren’t afraid to break the rules and are still extremely aware of these same rules they break.

JASPER: Tell us about why you paint – what’s your mission and what are you trying to communicate to your viewer? 

GREENE: For me, my mission is to be able to live a life not controlled by the stigmas that are placed on everyone in this human experience. I think a lot of the things that we as people have been taught are tailoring us to live a carbon copy cookie-cutter "American Dream" -- but who even created that standard? No one asked to be on this earth so it bugs me even further that those expectations are placed on people, why can't we just live life? Do the things that make us happy and inspire others to do the same with what little time we have.

I do believe the role of an artist is to speak on the world that is around them. So, if the world of politics is full of issues, and this is what I see in my world, I think it does become my job to relay my message. I think oftentimes people and artists get pigeonholed into what they should be expected to be, but the only expectation I place on myself is to make the best art I can make while staying authentic to my own story.

JASPER: Can you talk more about your Baby Boy exhibition recently held at Stormwater Studios in Columbia?

GREENE: My debut solo exhibition titled ‘Baby Boy’ is literally like my baby, it opened up July 9th, 2021, and closed July 18th, 2021. The title came from just the feeling and sentiment of me always being “Baby Boy” to those closest to me. I’m the youngest of six siblings so to them, to my mother, to those who know me the best I am always a baby boy no matter how old I am. This exhibition was to convey the many sides of me more as a man. Like a coming home for me celebrating the many sides of me the world may never see.

I felt as if the exhibition went extremely well and brought a lot of attention to me and the works that I have put so much time, effort, and love into. It was such a relief to see my work on the walls and to have the feeling of completion. To know an idea of mine was nurtured, developed, and made into a reality empowers me and that alone makes me certain my exhibition was successful.

JASPER: As a young Black artist, what are your specific challenges? 

GREENE: I think the biggest challenge for me as an artist is just being labelled solely a “black artist.” I think I am an amazing artist in general! I want to break the barriers and walls that black artists face where they are seen as only “good for a black artist” or the feeling of making art based on the plight of my ancestors. I choose to make art that brings me progression and strength. I think for me and a lot of other artists who are black we get placed in a box of making contrived art as opposed to art that genuinely speaks and has a message.

I love making art that speaks for those who look like me, who feel like me and those who have felt as I have felt before. Within that umbrella those who identify with me may not be black, but within my art I represent what is tangible to me. I find strength in my identify, but the sentiments of my identity span deeper than me just being black. I think that what I create, and the content of my work is what makes me great, I just so happen to be black.

I think another challenge for me is just having a point of reference that looks like me. I’ve been lucky enough to come across some amazing individuals who have motivated me to continue pushing further but when I see my 8-year-old self I wish I had someone pushing me to be better.

As someone who is self-trained, I don’t have a million references or resources, but for me instead of seeing this as a challenge I see it as an opportunity to be what I didn’t have.

JASPER: What’s next for you? 

GREENE: I honestly see myself just diving deeper into my process and the narrative of Malik the artist. My work is directly related to where I am in life so to be inspired to work, I have to experience life. For the better or worse, see some things, do some things better, and feel some things. It’s exciting to know as long as I have my hands, I have a gift no one can take from me. . 

THE BEAT - Review: Katera - Fear Doesn’t Live Here

By Kyle Petersen

Although Fear Doesn’t Live Here is technically Columbia R&B singer/songwriter Katera’s debut album, she’s long been one of the most intriguing voices in our music scene. Many of the songs on this record have been available online and in her set list for years, so there’s a way in which this record feels like a culmination of sorts, the conclusive exclamation point on the gradually building recognition of Katera as one of the great artistic talents in our city. 

A gospel-trained singer who taught herself guitar in order to burnish her performance and songwriting talents, Katera presents herself as a true student of both the pop-rock and R&B traditions, excelling at brisk, lithely constructed tunes. The lead-in intro “Hate Me Now” has her confidently riding a hook-filled, loping beat that builds gracefully into the sumptuous R&B groove of “Refund (I Don’t Love You),” a pocket-heavy performance which in turn is framed against the throbbing acoustic pop-rock strums and triumphant chorus of “DNA.”  

That opening salvo establishes both the songwriting range and the polished studio techniques that Fear utilizes. As a guitarist and arranger, Katera leans towards punched-up versions of the warm tones of neo-soul and the casually athletic vocal multi-tracks of early 2000s contemporary R&B. It’s a potent blend, and one that could carry the record of a lesser songwriter, really. 

But Katera excels as a songwriter first and foremost, with a distinct sense of character and charisma that, in addition to her technical skills, really fosters her album’s identity. Tracks like “Single” and “No Phone Calls” present a humbly confident twist on women’s empowerment anthems, toying with the romantic themes of the genre while offering a distinct perspective. This is perhaps most evident on “Rush,” the pulsating centerpiece of the record which gracefully pulls back against a breathless melody and giddy chord progression as Katera and featured rapper H3RO articulate the desire to slow down a relationship as a couple feels tempted to succumb to urgent longing.  

There are lighter and more playful moments here too (“Superhero” and “In Love with the DJ”), but it is her distinctive spin on R&B romance that makes Katera’s first album such a triumph. Most debut records are usually about the promise of the artist, but this one is truly more a demonstration of a fully realized vision.

Don't Miss Complexions Contemporary Ballet at Harbison Theatre!

One thing that anyone who knows anything about professional dance can agree on is that Columbia does not have enough contemporary ballet. Between the Tutu Wars and our dance scene being frozen in a time when full length fairytale ballets ruled the day, (read: the 1980s), we typically only get to see what the rest of the world of dance audiences sees when City Ballet does Body and Movement Explored (coming up soon!) or when the new Columbia Rep Dance Company performs.

Thankfully Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College, under the direction of Kristin Wood Cobb, has a place in its heart for progressive and cutting edge performing arts, including dance!

Coming up on Friday February 19th and for one night only, Complexions Contemporary Dance Company will perform “Stardust: From Bach to Bowie” at Harbison’s state-of-the-art theatre, just off the highway in Irmo.

Rescheduled from the 2019-2020 season, Complexions presents Stardust From Bach to Bowie as a tribute to two fantastic artists who each founded his own musical hemisphere. The show includes "Star Dust," dedicated to the one and only David Bowie, plus an additional repertory set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach. This world-renowned company has been featured on So You Think You Can Dance in the U.S. and Australia.

Complexions was founded in 1994 by Master Choreographer Dwight Rhoden and the legendary Desmond Richardson with a singular approach to reinventing dance through a groundbreaking mix of methods, styles and cultures. Today, Complexions represents one of the most recognized, diverse, inclusive and respected performing arts brands in the World.  Having presented an entirely new and exciting vision of human movement on 5-continents, over 20-countries, to over 20-million television viewers and to well over 300,000 people in live audiences, Complexions is poised to continue its mission to bring unity to the world one dance at a time. 

Complexions has received numerous awards including The New York Times Critics’ Choice Award. It has appeared throughout the US, including the Joyce Theater/NY, Lincoln Center/NY, Brooklyn Academy of Music/NY, Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts/New Orleans, Paramount Theatre/Seattle, The Music Center/Los Angeles, Winspear Opera House/Dallas, Cutler Majestic Theater/Boston, New Victory Theater/NY, and Music Hall/Detroit, The Bolshoi Theater, The Kremlin, The Mikhailovsky Theater, Melbourne Arts Center, and will make it's debut at the Kennedy Center in 2017, as a part of Ballet Across America.​

The Company has appeared at major European dance festivals including Italy’s Festival of Dance ,the Isle De Dance Festival in Paris, the Maison De La Dance Festival in Lyon, the Holland Dance Festival, Steps International Dance Festival in Switzerland, Łódź Biennale, Warsaw Ballet Festival, Kraków Spring Ballet Festival, the Dance Festival of Canary Islands/Spain, and the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur/Canada. 

In addition, Complexions has toured extensively throughout the Baltic Regions, Korea, Brazil, Japan, Egypt, Israel, Russia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Serbia, Jamaica, and Australia. 

The company’s foremost innovation is that dance should be about removing boundaries, not reinforcing them. Whether it be the limiting traditions of a single style, period, venue, or culture, Complexions transcends them all, creating an open, continually evolving form of dance that reflects the movement of our world—and all its constituent cultures—as an interrelated whole. 

In 2006, Complexions held their first Summer Intensive program, serving 80 students in its first year. The program has grown to multiple cities and serves over up to 600 students annually. Since 2009, a Winter Intensive was added to the roster, serving an additional 400 students, and CCB added its Pre- Professional Program in 2016.  Complexions’ artistic directors and company members teach master classes throughout the world, sharing the Complexions technique with dancers of all levels.  

Together, Rhoden and Richardson have created in Complexions an institution that embodies its historical moment, a sanctuary where those passionate about dance can celebrate its past while simultaneously building its future. In the 27 years since its inception, the company has born witness to a world that is becoming more fluid, more changeable, and more culturally interconnected than ever before—in other words, a world that is becoming more and more like Complexions itself.

~~~~~

Before they take the stage at Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College on February 18, the phenomenal dancers of Complexions Contemporary Ballet (CCB) will be in residence!
 
Dancers from the internationally renowned company will teach two 90-minute advanced master classes for advanced dancers from 1:30pm - 3pm. HT@MTC has partnered with the University of South Carolina to host the classes at the UofSC dance studios. The two classes will run concurrently and will be taught by Jillian Davis and Simon Plant of CCB. In addition, a workshop relating to Complexions' repertory and performance style, as well as topics such as improvisation and composition will be offered. Classes are open to University of South Carolina dance students.  For more information, please contact the dance program at dance@sc.edu. 

Dancers from CCB will also teach two 90-minute community/intermediate classes for dance school and some high school students from 3:30pm - 5pm. These classes will also take place at the UofSC dance studios. The two classes will run concurrently and will be taught by Timothy Stickney and Larissa Gerszke of Complexions. In addition, a workshop relating to CCB repertory and performance style, as well as topics such as improvisation and composition will be offered. Please sign up using the form below for more information about this class. There is no charge for the classes; however, dancers will need to sign waivers and wear a mask while in class.

Master Class: 1:30pm to 3pm | Friday, February 18

Community/Intermediate Class: 3:30pm to 5pm |  Friday, February 18 (register here)

Featured Fall Lines Contributor -- Glenis Redmond

My poems come from my core. Then, I pour what percolates onto journal pages. They are hot-inked scribblings, handwritten epiphanies that morph and manifest into soul driven colloquial anthems. My poems stand up – sing and dance of lineage or lack thereof. They come from a deep-seated oceanic need to know about my heritage. What I cannot answer, I imagine. - Glenis Redmond

Glenis Redmond performs spoken word poetry as the Keynote Speaker for the Greer SC Arts Council

In January, the JASPER PROJECT released a combined double issue of volumes VII and VIII of Fall Lines - a literary convergence, our annual literary journal. In the weeks to come we will be highlighting some of the contributions to the journal by featuring the author and their work in ONLINE JASPER.

This week, we’re featuring one of South Carolina’s treasured poets, Glenis Redmond.

A 2020 recipient of the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts and an upcoming inductee into the SC Academy of Authors, Redmond considers herself a poet, a teaching artist, and an imagination artist. From her website we learn that, “Glenis Redmond is nationally renowned award-winning poet and teaching artist traveling the world sharing and teaching poetry. She writes about the strength of her Afro-Carolinian roots, while exploring their weighted and palpable histories. Glenis is a literary community leader. She is dedicated to coaching and uplifting youth poet’s voices. She co-founded a literary program called Peace Voices in her hometown of Greenville, SC from 2012-2019. Glenis is also  Kennedy Center Teaching Artist and a Cave Canem poet.

Her work has been showcased on NPR and PBS and  has been most recently published in Orion Magazine, the North Carolina Literary Review, Obsidian Literature and Arts in the African Diaspora, StorySouth, About Place and Carolina Muse. 

She has recently won awards for her poems featuring Harriet Tubman (conductor of the (Underground Railroad) Harriet Jacobs (enslaved woman who hid in attic 7 years to escape her owner, then turned abolitionist and writer) and Harriet E. Wilson (first African American novelist). These poems will be published in Glenis’ upcoming chapbook, The Three Harriets and Others  by Finishing Line Press in 2021.  Her latest book, The Listening Skin will be published by Four Way Books in 2022. 

During February 2016, at the request of U.S. State Department for their Speaker's Bureau, Glenis traveled to Muscat, Oman, to teach a series of poetry workshops and perform poetry for Black History Month.

In 2014-18, Glenis has served as the Mentor Poet for the National Student Poet's Program to prepare students to read at the Library of Congress, the Department of Education, and for First Lady Michelle Obama at The White House. The students now read at the Library of Congress. 

Author and T&W Board member Tayari Jones selected Glenis Redmond’s essay, “Poetry as a Mirror,” as the runner-up for the 2018 Bechtel Prize. Teachers & Writers Collaborative awards the annual Bechtel Prize to the author of an essay that explores themes related to creative writing, arts education, and/or the imagination.  

Redmond’s “Dreams Speak: My Father’s Words” was chosen for third place for the North Carolina Literary Review’s James Applewhite Prize and “Sketch,” “Every One of My Names,” and “House: Another Kind of Field” will be published in NCLR in 2019. These poems are about —Harriet Tubman, the most famous conductor of the underground railroad; Harriet Jacobs, who escaped from slavery and became an abolitionist, and the author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; and Harriet E. Wilson, who was held as an indentured servant in the North and went on to become an important novelist, businesswoman, and religious speaker.

Glenis believes that poetry is a healer, and she can be found in the trenches across the world applying pressure to those in need, one poem at a time.  

Visit Glenis at www.glenisredmond.com 

She Makes Me Think of Houses

For Ruth Noack

I.

I lived in many house. 13 by age 13.

This year, I circle back to my first.

The place where I was born: Sumter, South Carolina.

My birth certificate classifies me: Negroid.

On Shaw AFB. My sister Velinda

7 years my elder cannot attend the school on base.

My father writes a letter to the base commander

for his first daughter to attend.

She’s her own version of Ruby Bridges

Unescorted. Chased by white boys with sticks.

Everyday called, Nigger.

II.

This year I drive 2 ½ hours South

to take my grandson, Julian

to a family fun day

on a black-run horse farm.

We both ride on a horse named, Blue.

Julian’s favorite color.

Bessie Smith sings the hue.

On the way back home,

I see a sign to my birthplace.

I tell Julian I want to drive by.

Visit 57 years later.

Apartments. Projects. Hood.

Sub-standard housing,

a crack-riddled man stumbles towards us.

I have eyes all over my body

I assess the cracked windows

and duct taped doors.

Two dark-skinned girls play

in the street. Double Dutch.

I tell Julian to stay in the car.

I take pictures.

When I tell my daughter

I went there: 45 Birnie Circle.

She says, “This house, not home

does not define you.”

X marks my port of entry.

I see all the angles.

Drive back to my home on Endeavor Circle.

Purchased with poetry money.

I’ve indeed come full circle ‘round.

 

Announcing a new Jasper Project Endeavor -- the Lizelia August Jenkins Moorer Poetry Chapbook Prize for SC BIPOC Poets

In honor of the 20th century poet, Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer, the Jasper Project is delighted to announce a new project, the Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer Poetry Chapbook Prize for SC BIPOC poets.

Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer (1868-1936) was a teacher and social activist in Orangeburg, SC. Born in Pickens, SC, she taught at the Normal and Grammar Schools at Claflin College for 40 years. Her published anthology of poems Prejudice Unveiled and Other Poems (1907) examined the Jim Crow South’s propensity for lynching, racism, and social injustice. Moorer was also an advocate for women’s suffrage in South Carolina, especially in the Methodist Church. 

The purpose of the Lizelia August Jenkins Moorer Prize, affectionately called the Lizelia Prize, is to offer a first-time BIPOC poet from SC a publishing contract with Muddy Ford Press to publish their debut chapbook under the guidance of an established poet. The vision of Dr. Len Lawson, who is a member of the Jasper Project board of directors and the author, editor, or co-editor of four books of poetry, Lawson will also serve as project manager as well as editor of the winner’s chapbook and will collaborate with the winner on the construction of the book.

SC BIPOC poets who have yet to publish a book of poetry are invited to submit 30-40 single spaced numbered pages in Times New Roman 12pt and include a cover sheet with your name and manuscript title. Your name should not appear on the manuscript. The winning submission will receive publication via Muddy Ford Press, a cash prize of $250, and ten author copies of the book. Submissions should be in the form of a Word doc and should be sent to lizeliapoetry@gmail.com no later than February 28th, 2022.

JIM CROW CARS.

by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer

If within the cruel Southland you have chanced to take a ride,

You the Jim Crow cars have noticed, how they crush a Negro's pride,

How he pays a first class passage and a second class receives,

Gets the worst accommodations ev'ry friend of truth believes.

'Tis the rule that all conductors, in the service of the train,

Practice gross discriminations on the Negro—such is plain—

If a drunkard is a white man, at his mercy Negroes are,

Legalized humiliation is the Negro Jim Crow car.

'Tis a license given white men, they may go just where they please,

In the white man's car or Negro's will they move with perfect ease,

If complaint is made by Negroes the conductor will go out

Till the whites are through carousing, then he shows himself about.

They will often raise a riot, butcher up the Negroes there,

Unmolested will they quarrel, use their pistols,rant and swear,

They will smoke among the ladies though offensive the cigar;

'Tis the place to drink their whiskey, in the Negro Jim Crow car.

If a Negro shows resistance to his treatment by a tough,

At some station he's arrested for the same, though not enough,

He is thrashed or lynched or tortured as will please the demon's rage,

Mobbed, of course, by "unknown parties," thus is closed the darkened page.

If a lunatic is carried, white or black, it is the same,

Or a criminal is taken to the prison-house in shame,

In the Negro car he's ushered with the sheriff at his side,

Out of deference for white men in their car he scorns to ride.

We despise a Negro's manhood, says the Southland, and expect,

All supremacy for white men—black men's rights we'll not protect,

This the Negro bears with patience for the nation bows to might,

Wrong has borne aloft its colors disregarding what is right.

This is called a Christian nation, but we fail to understand,

How the teachings of the Bible can with such a system band;

Purest love that knows no evil can alone the story tell,

How to banish such abuses, how to treat a neighbor well.

Raena Shirali will be serving as the adjudicator for the Lizelia Prize.

Raena Shirali is a poet, editor, and educator from Charleston, South Carolina. Her first book, GILT (YesYes Books, 2017), won the 2018 Milt Kessler Poetry Book Award, and her forthcoming collection, summonings, won the 2021 Black Lawrence Press Hudson Prize. Winner of a Pushcart Prize & a former Philip Roth Resident at Bucknell University, Shirali is also the recipient of prizes and honors from VIDA, Gulf Coast, Boston Review, & Cosmonauts Avenue. She holds an MFA in Poetry from The Ohio State University Shirali and is an Assistant Professor of English at Holy Family University, where she serves as Faculty Advisor for Folio—a literary magazine dedicated to publishing works by undergraduate students at the national level. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A Day, The Nation, The Rumpus, & elsewhere.

PRINTWORTHY! Michaela Pilar Brown is in the Right Place at the Right Time

Reprinted from Jasper Magazine Fall 2021

by Cindi Boiter

Over the past decade, Jasper Magazine has written about Columbia-based multi-media artist Michaela Pilar Brown many times. This passage of time has witnessed Brown become a leader in our community, not only as a result of her myriad accomplishments but also by the now-international stature she commands across the most-sophisticated fine arts circles.

Brown’s career has been punctuated by a steady continuum of shows, awards, residencies, and related experiences that have helped shape the 50-something artist into the fierce icon she is becoming. Taking home the 2018 Artfields Grand Prize for her mixed-media installation She’s Almost Ready is upmost among her accolades, as is being awarded the inaugural Volcanic Residency at the Whakatano Museum in New Zealand that same year.

Born in Bangor, Maine, and raised in Denver, Brown became an influential member of the Columbia arts scene soon after she moved here in 2013. Having spent many a childhood summer visiting the Fairfield County farm where her father lived, Brown had returned to SC a dozen or so years earlier to help care for her aging family patriarch. His land and its legacies were a part of who Brown was even when the she first left home to study at Howard University in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

“Howard felt like family. My professors let me continue my work even when I couldn’t afford tuition,” Brown says. “I spent a lot of time learning outside of academia.”

Critically influenced by such trailblazing American artists as Frank Smith and Jeff Donaldson, Brown identifies world-renowned sculptor Richard Hunt as impacting her work ethic the most.

Hunt, who may be the most highly accomplished contemporary Black American sculptor and creator of public art in the country, visited Howard to install a piece of his work during Brown’s time as a student. When a piece of his art was damaged, Brown was recruited to help with the repair. A burgeoning artist-protégé relationship led to an invitation to study with Hunt for a summer in Chicago.

“I was green and just so honored,” Brown says. “He worked fervently all the time and I worked all the time,” noting that she initially wanted to make public art herself. In fact, the young artist had interned at the International Sculpture Center, part of the Washington Project for the Arts, as well as the Smithsonian Institution.

The emphasis on family and the support systems it can naturally provide had followed Brown to Howard, where the faculty became supportive elders for the young artist. The intimacy and sacredness of her ancestral home not only informed Brown as an artist but also provided her with a profound understanding of the strengths and challenges of southern Black art writ large, as well as with the workings of the local arts community specifically.

After her father died in 2007, Brown’s mother soon also came to depend on her and her brothers for what ultimately would be end-of-life care. It was a crushing loss that further strengthened Brown’s resolve to take command of her platform like never before. The artist continued to bring the roots and wings she had embraced — on her home turf, in DC, and in Chicago — into an enduring relationship with Columbia-based theatre artist Darion McCloud and his daughter more than ten years ago.

“All these experiences changed the shape of the work I was doing and what I wanted to do,” Brown says. “My work became much more personal and honest. My focus came to include what it means to me to be Black in SC, but it also focuses a great deal on love and how we grieve.”

Among her major accomplishments over the last decade has been taking on the position of executive director of 701 CCA – Columbia’s Center for Contemporary Art. 701 CCA is located on the second floor of the historic 701 Whaley Street complex and featured on page XX of this magazine.

Arguably the perfect person for this position due to her local and international profile, Brown is the first Black woman to have this role, and she handles the responsibility with a resolute intensity. “701 [CCA] has historically been a place of inclusion,” Brown says. “I am engaged in protecting that and expanding it through exhibitions, programming, community dialogue, and programs outside our walls that engage the community directly in neighborhoods and through community partnerships. … We had a challenging moment recently, and I'm proud of who we are on the other side of it. I'm proud of the public statement we made and the manner in which we supported our artist.”

Brown is referencing the night of May 17, 2021. John Sims, an artist-in-residence at the gallery was living in an apartment assigned to him in the building at 701 Whaley Street when he was accosted, handcuffed, and held at gunpoint as a “suspicious person” by the Columbia Police Department. Brown released a statement in response to the attack, saying the incident was not the first time a resident at 701 had encountered the police. “It was the first time, however, such an encounter led to hostile confrontation, detention, cuffing, and a records check. On the contrary, such previous encounters have resulted in courteous apologies from officers. The difference? Race. Mr. Sims is a Black man; the other incidents involved a white man.”

“Like other community-based, nonprofit institutions,” Brown continues in her statement, “CCA has the responsibility to shine light on injustice it encounters and to be part of an active dialogue to make real and discernible change. We cannot ignore the relationship between white supremacy that permeates our culture and the racial profiling we believe infected John Sims’ treatment by CPD officers. … What we can and will do is support the efforts of John Sims as the CCA artist in residence to tell his story, to provide context for that story through his artistic expression, and to seize the opportunity to join with him and the greater Columbia community as we continue the struggle for racial justice.”

It is Brown’s intimate knowledge of the patrons of 701 CCA and the community it supports that informs this position so well. “I am optimistic about the Columbia art scene,” she says. “This is a community that wants change, that's ready to face the challenges of the moment with art leading the discussions. I am hopeful that our politicians recognize the value of art for the betterment of this community, for the comfort it brings, for the space it makes for challenging conversations, and for the expansive learning opportunities it offers young people. I also hope they support it with dollars, and not just the legacy institutions, but in an expansive, inclusive way.”

Lori Starnes Isom Explores Emotion Through Faces and Figures in New Tiny Gallery Show Sentimental Mood

Jazz Stylist

As we bundle up and get prepared to gather around tables and share thanks with ourselves and the ones we care for, consider expressing that love with an irreplaceable drawing or painting from Lori Starnes Isom, Jasper’s featured November Tiny Gallery artist, whose show Sentimental Mood is up now. 

Lori Starnes Isom is a New Yorker at her origins, born in Brooklyn and growing up in Queens, where she went to an arts high school and college. Her first interest in art came far before school, however, around age six.

 “I remember drawing lots of go-go dancers wearing white boots - probably inspired by the show ‘Laugh-In,’ which most likely inspired my desire to be a dancer as well!” Isom recalls. 

Though her schooling in art absolutely aided in Isom’s understanding of the genre, she roots most of her ability to “voraciously” consuming and studying other artists’ work as well as art content in print. This seed continued to grow not just as a student but a teacher, with Isom having taught children's art classes at the private level.

 As an artist, Isom is proficient in a plethora of mediums, though her favorite is charcoal due to her longstanding history with it and its “depth and richness.” When it comes to painting, specifically, she prefers watercolor due to its translucent texture and visuality. 

Visionary

“At first my work looked really stiff because I was trying to control the paint. But after a while, I learned that watercolor works best if you let it do its thing,” Isom explains, “I eventually switched over to acrylics because framing charcoals and watercolors got way too expensive!”  

Acrylic also provides a “versatility and ease of use” that allows Isom to repaint and alter art while already in-progress, which works in tandem with her personal style that she refers to as “loose [and] painterly.” In contrast to this is the detail she puts into faces, with figures and portraits often being the subject of her work. 

Isom credits artists such as Mary Cassatt, Johannes Vermeer, and John Singer Sargent as being inspiring forces for her. This compounds with her personal motivations in storytelling.  

“My driving force is always to tell a story or pursue an idea. I work from old photos a lot because I'm familiar with the people in them, and I deeply enjoy the challenge of bringing life to them,” Isom intimates, “I also really enjoy working in monotone and large, solid swathes of color because it causes the viewer to focus more on the story.”   

Isom’s process is one of balancing the freedom of ideas and maintaining simplicity, which allows for a striking expression of emotion and affect, finishing a piece when there is “nothing more that needs to be said.” 

For this Tiny Gallery show, Isom offers an intimate exploration of humanity, focusing on what she loves most: people. Sentimental Mood is a collection of 8 new and old pieces in multiple mediums.  

In one, a watercolored woman stands tall, gazing above her at something just off canvas. In another, a couple with soft, blurred faces yet stark emotion stand pressed against another, with an emerald green dress its center. Another zooms in close to a singing woman, mouth open in the ecstasy of song, fingers softly tendrilled around her microphone. 

“As far as a favorite,” Isom shares, “I think that would be "Close to My Heart", because it's a simple pencil drawing of my mom and her mother, Daisy, whom I never got to meet.”  

Close to my Heart

Within or outside the show, Isom has and continues to make a mark on our community with her expressive, pointed, and unique work. “I am acutely aware that it's a gift to be able to express myself in a creative way and know that I am in full control of how far I allow that creativity to grow,” she effuses. 

Isom’s show will be up until November 30th at Jasper’s online gallery, which is accessible 24/7: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery.    

Concurrent to and after the show, Isom’s work can be viewed at the new Gallery 537 in Camden, South Carolina. You can also follow along her journey on Instagram and Facebook @loristarnesisom. 

—    Christina Xan

Future Fortune Artist Talk: Dogon Krigga interviewed by Michael Murray at Tapp's Outpost October 3rd, 2021

Tapp's Outpost is excited to host an intimate discussion between Artist Dogon Krigga and Co-host of the Podcast Cultivated Ignorance, Michael Murray, on October 3rd at 4pm. Unpacking the vision and inspiration of the exhibition Future Fortune: A visual treatise on perspective, Dogon and Michael will hone in on the experiences, characters, and world views that shaped the artists visual story line. The talk will also be streamed on Facebook live for those community members who can't participate in person. The show is currently on view at Tapp's Outpost, 715 Saluda Avenue, Columbia, SC 29205, and is free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 10am to 6pm

Dogon Krigga expresses magick with the use of pixel and paper. Known as “the keeper of the crossroads between magick and mixed media”, Dogon incorporates divine mysteries, transcribed over time throughout their ancestors’ experiences to connect Black people to the future and the past.

Dogon immortalizes modern and ancient traditions, wisdom, and theory into majestic and whimsical digital and mixed media collages that venerate those that came before, those that will come, and those that exist outside of time. 

Dogon Krigga utilized over a decade of experiences, techniques, knowledge and training as a graphic designer and practitioner of Afrofuturism and other African diasporic traditional religions to illuminate the spiritual paths and possibilities for all whom receive their creations.

Dogon Krigga currently resides where they grew up, in Columbia, SC. Krigga is primarily a self-taught artist, with a creative lineage connected to legends like Romare Bearden and Tom feelings. Their background in creative writing, journalism, and music production also lends to their creative perspective.

Michael A. Murray is a local poet/author who has been writing stories and stanzas ever since his hand could hold a pen. He is also a photographer, filmmaker, podcast host, public speaker, mentor, and founder of the NU GRWTH Artist Collective: a premier conduit that gives black and brown artists of the south the resources, visibility, and appreciation needed to be as influential as their dreams aspire to be.

Since 2016 Michael has joined various creative circles and founded various artistic outlets with one objective constantly in mind: Do whatever it takes to help see both the world and all those who inhabit it reach their highest, truest potential. With this goal at the forefront, Michael founded Playlixt LLC, an event and multi-media based platform built to promote and celebrate artists of various backgrounds and disciplines looking for opportunities to showcase their talents to the masses.
 

The exhibition will be on view September 9th through October 30, 2021. The exhibition is free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 12pm to 6pm. Masks and social distancing will be required. For questions about the works on view or Tapp's Outpost, please email caitlin@outpostartspace.org. 

CORONA TIMES - Jasper Talks with Robb Kershaw #BLACK ARTISTS MATTER

JASPER: Let’s start with getting some demographics out of the way. How old are you, where did you grow up and, if you’re not from Columbia, what brought you here?                                                                                     

KERSHAW:  I’m 29 years old, born and raised in Columbia to be more specific Hopkins, SC.

JASPER: Describe, please, yourself as an artist. What medium(s) do you use? Are you self-taught or formally trained? If the latter, where did you get your training? If the former, how did you get into this line of art?

KERSHAW: This question always stumps me because at most I don’t see myself as an artist. Yes I create things but I think everyone in some medium creates things. I just tend to conceptually piece things together in an abstract nature that is easy for mass consumption. I view myself as the creator, I have an eye so I deem it worthy in my universe and I welcome those who would like free space to enter my realm. I’m a musician at times, then I write, I may sketch some stuff, but none of that accurately details an answer. I’m self taught I learn from my interaction from others, I tend to latch on and study. I view the studying of others peaceful and I learn a lot from it.

JASPER: Are you a full-time artist or do you have a day job?

KERSHAW: As much as I would love to commit to my art in the fullness I do have a day job. I never let anything art wise fall short I tend to keep a level balance on both to help me stay afloat and not sink any ship I have docked. 

JASPER: Who have been your greatest inspirations as an artist?

KERSHAW: For me I love Prince, I have the nickname Baby Prince because I truly idolize everything that energy was. It’s one of the reasons I took on a one name moniker as ROBBIEBADBOI. Though I should say this as well I don’t like tossing names out as inspiration. I do rather toss certain works that inspired me by said artist rather than glorifying the artist themselves. It takes a very special energy for me to just stop the press and praise namesakes.

JASPER: You answered that you see yourself as a creator more than an artist. Can you tell us about 2 or 3 of your most recent art projects?

KERSHAW:  I feel as if the word artist limits us as creators into a hub that labels us within only a certain spectrum. I feel The world creator is infinite and can’t really be defined as just one set thing. I want to be able to do it all if not try.

So far I was able to release two projects this year I was able to drop a short web comic that is now being reimagined in a serious manga drop. The project is called Binkie Babes which centers around 3 magical girls and their fight to stop the dark universe. Fun fact I started this series back in middle school with a similar concept in mind ha.

And I can’t forget the music, I currently released my first project as a solo artist “MISSING: HAVE YOU SEEN BADBOI, THE LOST TAPE VOL1” which was crazy scary especially after being within a group dynamic for so long you kinda lose a sense of self so I’m regaining a lot of that back with the BADBOI project. 

JASPER: How has the pandemic impacted your ability to create?

KERSHAW: This pandemic has presented a lot of negatives but I have to examine the positives from it and I must say that it has given me the time to hone in. I don’t believe I would be as focused as I am to write the projects I’m currently in the middle of without this happening. I was so busy traveling and running around that I never got the true time to sit and just create. So I’m truly proud of the things that are coming.

Coming from an alternative rock project (NEPOTISM) I thrived from live interactions but since our indefinite hiatus I locked myself away from most public interactions only popping out so often because I wanted to find myself. So yeah I’m grateful for the calm (though it’s anything but)

JASPER: What's next up for you creatively? Where and when can we experience your upcoming work?

KERSHAW: So currently I’m working on a few animation projects. Animation has my entire heart ha. I have a manga (comic) project coming later this year called Binkie Babes and will be releasing another project next year called KOLUH (COLA) it’s a series pretty much about a Supernatural Columbia but I want to explore and reimagine the history of South Carolina as a whole.

Jasper Talks with Benjamin Moore, aka Farticus, about the "Plandemic," Egon Schiele, Basquiat, BLM, His Parents, and the Way Forward for the Columbia Arts Community

“Brown artists in alignment with the BLM movement aren't asking to be placed on a pedestal until things somehow "blow over", we aren't asking anything at all. We're demanding that in exchange for our support (the black dollar) that we share the spaces where decisions formulated.”

- Benjamin Moore, aka Farticus

I first met Farticus a few years back when he was in the middle of installing a group show at the old Tapp’s Art Center on Main. Caitlin Bright, director of the center, introduced us and it was in those last few chaotic hours before First Thursday when the old building would absolutely pulse with the music and the energy of our favorite night of the month.

I’m not sure how or why I missed the opportunity to better get to know Farticus back then, but that is what it was - a missed opportunity.

The young artist and Columbia, SC native was kind enough to participate in a virtual interview with Jasper last week and we’re honored now to share his honest and evocative perspectives with our readers.

-Cindi Boiter

JASPER: First, tell us about the work you do -- what is your discipline/medium, how long have you been at it, are you formally trained (if so, where and when) or are you self-taught? 

MOORE: I am a self-taught, multi-disciplinary visual designer and creative director best known for my experimentation with texture, typography, semiotics, color theory and reinvention of pop culture references. I use nostalgic and sci-fi elements to translate an abstract perspective of daily life in an aesthetically consistent, distinct, and relatable format. I’m experienced in textile mediums (collaging, watercolor and acrylic painting, crayon, colored pencil, marker, and more). The spectrum of my pieces varies from detailed, layered and seemingly chaotic mixed media to clean and simplistic layouts emphasizing composition, juxtaposition, and effective advertisement. I’ve been experimenting with mediums of expression for nearly a decade. 

JASPER: How old are you and how would you describe yourself philosophically?  

MOORE: I’m not one to give age too much power. I feel it can misrepresent maturity in a lot of ways, so I tend to think of it purely as an indicator of inherited wisdom. Experience is just as good a term. Not to say that inherited wisdom and experience is always applied. I’m 29 but when most people ask, I just tell em I’m 8… turned to the side. Philosophically speaking, I’m a black man with heightened intuition. 

JASPER: Who have been your major influences as an artist?

MOORE: Artists that have had a major influence on me are: Jean Michel Basquiat, Romare Bearden, Frank Stella, Egon Schiele, Mark Rothko, Ellis Wilson, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Hajime Sorayama, Tekashi Murakami, Kanye West, and of course my parents. 

JASPER: Can you talk about how your parents have influenced you as an artist?

MOORE: Well, outside of showering me with support and encouragement, they're two of the most resourceful, self-motivated, and inspiring people in my life. My father is an entrepreneur. That's a different level of creativity. And my mother is an interior designer. They're both sticklers about quality, thoroughness, and professionalism but they don't take shit from anybody. Their taste and attitude are most definitely hereditary.  

“I truly believe we navigate on a timeline of tasks. Some are born undoubtedly aware of their purpose and contributions to the human experience. Others like myself spend a lifetime figuring it out. As artists, we help those that are less expressive understand, appreciate, and better document their individual timelines.”

JASPER: It's super interesting that both sci-fi and nostalgia find voice in your art. Care to speculate on why that may be?

MOORE: Nostalgia is a lot like DNA. It's a shared consciousness to those that experienced whatever visual, sound, or event. I feel it's unavoidable being that history repeats itself. As for sci-fi, it's an alternate reality, oftentimes future tense. You mix memory with prophecy or premonition and you've got artwork that's timeless. When I incorporate these elements, I'm inserting my personal preferences into an agreed upon "reality" to create my own. 

JASPER: I was glad to hear you mention Egon Schiele as one of your influences. You probably know that Schiele died at the young age of 28 during the Spanish flu pandemic. It's heartbreaking to think of the loss of such a powerful artist at such a young age -- and especially when we're experiencing a similar pandemic in 2020. Can you reflect on this as a young artist and share your thoughts with us?

MOORE: I hadn't realized the Spanish flu was his cause of death, but I too found his early demise interesting and unfortunate. It helped me appreciate self-portraits that much more. Inspired me to make as many of myself as I could. If you've ever heard of The 27 Club, Jean Michel Basquiat too had an untimely transition. I truly believe we navigate on a timeline of tasks. Some are born undoubtedly aware of their purpose and contributions to the human experience. Others like myself spend a lifetime figuring it out. As artists, we help those that are less expressive understand, appreciate, and better document their individual timelines. The way art appreciates once an artist transitions may have everything to do with the messages and documentation in which they dedicated themselves to, finally being exalted. It's all in divine and supreme timing.  

JASPER: Can you tell us about your pseudonym please? What is its origin and do you/will you continue to use it as an artist?

MOORE: The pseudonym is an icebreaker and an easy way for me to gauge personality types. Some refuse to call me it, some are apprehensive but accepting of it, others can't stop themselves from saying it. I have friends that abbreviate my name to PDF, honestly, both Fart and Farticus were given to me as nicknames. Of course, Fart came first. An ex-girlfriend began calling me Fart once we had gotten comfortable enough to fart around one another. It helped me realize we only fart around people we love. I've since referred to the moniker as me humbly saying I feel as though I'm the shit and that anything we feel deep in our gut is worthy of being expressed. As for the .PDF portion, I enjoy comparing humans to large computer files. All these aspirations, insecurities, abilities, secrets, and desires compressed into this single mind and body, we're more computer like than we'd like to admit.  Above all else, the name is unforgettable, and I have a theory that 3-5-character words have the highest success rate of being both popular and iconic.

JASPER: How has the pandemic impacted you and your ability to work and share your work as an artist?

MOORE: This plandemic (not a typo) has been fruitful to those closest to me. As artists, rebirth and abrupt adaptation is nothing we're unfamiliar with. What this moment is allowing is a more purposeful and accurate perspective of life. Once again, my ideas of past and future welding into one are being presented all around me. I've always imagined at what point will the future have progressed so much so that it would become the past. I see people getting to the core of who and what matters most, individually, and collectively. We're divvying our days more wisely, giving attention to our diet, curating our abodes, enjoying our environments in a more mindful way, and promoting personal space. 2020 has pushed us into our own realities and broken us into tribes that build trust through health and wellness. My artworks are no more difficult or easy to share than before, but the connection with my audience is greater. My audience actually grew by several hundred. I used these moments of stillness to get more familiar with commerce and production, I discovered I have a passion for cooking and preparing brightly colored dishes, my determination to make my home double as a creative space even encouraged me to transform my front room into a functioning gallery. I can't describe how motivated that keeps me to produce full show concepts with ready to hang artwork, something I would never expect to be thinking about given the current predicament and recent events.

JASPER: How can we, as a community of artists and arts lovers, support and promote the BLM movement in a way that you and your cohort of young artists of color would realize?

MOORE: The BLM movement (not the organization because we truly have no idea how that crowdfunded money is being used) is one of Utopian coexistence via equality and updated legislation. The thing is, abolishing privilege in a system and society founded on what can be viewed as injustices, would require a new system and society in its entirety. I don't like using words like oppressed to describe people that look like me, but that's the reality of it, and pacifying any specific group with minimal revisions to a system that rewards acts of oppression will never yield long term results. It's the equivalent of taping a dam with more leaks than logical for it to work efficiently but choosing to continue doing so rather than completely destroying and rebuilding the dam. Performative acts are counteractive. Brown artists in alignment with the BLM movement aren't asking to be placed on a pedestal until things somehow "blow over", we aren't asking anything at all. We're demanding that in exchange for our support (the black dollar) that we share the spaces where decisions formulated. We either need more companies and brands built on the premise of equal representation or more that represent only us. Enterprises founded before equality was worth mentioning, ones that failed to even the playing field and instead capitalized on our disadvantages are simply outdated. The standard of white supremacy be it beauty, success, whatever, is outdated. I guess what I'm saying is, including us (as much as I hate that word and sentiment) in the genesis of an idea rather than as an afterthought is the best way to support and promote our voices to those willing to listen.