responsibility and the desire for Art

Just last night i watched a piece of theatre/performance, that at the same time intrigued me and left me feeling somewhat alienated. heres the deal, myself and Deborah Forde had lead a workshop on diversity. talking with a group of new university students who wish to create art, we talked about the need to represent the diversity that is in the world they live in rather than to create work which is exclusive. this is the goal of the TDEV program at Concordia University(One that i am very proud of being part of. i think we made some head way. I spoke abouit the need to create work that talks to the world we see on the busses the subways, in the stores. Try to work with peoples who become invisible, once there is a picture to be made. Back to the theatrical bit, it works on the mundane, the everyday life, and I was wondering, is it the "priviledge" of some to actually make their daily quotidian existence "ART?" It bugged me no end to sit and watch. Those comfortable in the status quo treat their idle chatter as worthy of viewing. even if i love the people doing it. theres something,,,, talk to me, am I a art snob or just bitter.

Terminal Terminal

Its winding down to a few weeks before the opening of terminal terminal, and I have to admit, i am pretty excited about the whole thing. i have been looking all over the place for different information about Merhan, but it has hit me that i don't want to know anymore. I know it sounds really crass, but i find that i have an agenda, one is to tell some of his story, but the other is to look and figure out in a theatrical way, what would posses a man to sit in a place for that long, sure call it craziness! but that is not a logic. what is it that sends him over the edge? what running from or feels the need to be sheltered from?

as this is a work in progress please feel to comment, suggest,and offer any suggestion where i can perform this piece.

remember its in montreal at the MAI 3680 Jeanne-Mance, november 26,27,28

simulacra

It doesn't surprise me in the least when I get tangled up in what is real and what is not. I get snowed by the representation of the thing rather than the thing. Swayed by the press. More bark than bite. This is where "TerminalTerminal" kicks off. Imagine someone trapped in an airport for 16 years and then a big holywood preoducer shows up and begins to make a movie about it. except it ain't about it! it about something, but not his story, to say "based on a true story" is so bogus.

I was intersted in the man stuck in an airport, but I must confess my own use of his story to benefit mine, or for the greater good, what is this greater good? stay tuned i'll speak on it some more..
please remember

the MAI November 26 27 28 th 2009

TERINAL TERMINAL

*photo Althea knight

I THINK I MENTIONED IT BEFORE, BUT IT IS GETTING REALLY CLOSE TO THE TIME I THOUGHT I MIGHT MENTION IT AGAIN. THE ONE MAN PLAY "TERMINAL TERMINAL" WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY BRYAN JAMES AND DIRECTED BY DEBORAH FORDE,, WILL BE at the MAI (Montreal arts interculture) on these dates
November 26, november 27 and November 28;

please come out and support.

But Bryan, whats this thing about?
well, imagine, a man stuck in an airport for , well, a long time. imagine, well don't. imagine come and see the representation of the representation of the almost real thing.

Terminal Terminal

I was watching the news the other day, yesterday, and there was a bit on the CIA and its use of torture. This is not new. They and others have always had the "men in darkk suits who do the work we don't want to know about". what has this to do with Merhan Nasseri, the real "terminal man" well it seemed as though the CIA have helped in creating torture and death squads all over the world. In the case of Merhan, the CIA helped create SAVAK the secret police, which helped to crush all opponents of the shah, and according to Sir Alfred Merhan's book "The Terminal Man" Torture and interrogation methods in SAVAK prisons include but are not limited to; electric shocks,whippings beatings,inserting broken glass into a persons body, the forced extraction of teeth, the forced extraction of fingernails, the forced extraction of toenails,tying weights to the testicles, and pouring boiling water into the rectum."

I am writing about his life WILL BE performing his days in the airport.

"Terminal Terminal"

Just a big heads up, to let you all know that Bryan James will be performing his wonderful funny ,insightful one person play"TERMINAL TERMINAL" in Montreal, it will be Directed By the wonderful Deborah Forde.

the production will take place at the MAI( Montreal Arts interculturels)
3630, rue Jeanne Mance. November 26,27,28. 2009

i will be posting all the latest on the project and all the wonderful rehearsal moments.

long time, no write.

Sorry i really mean it. I have been;(a) very busy, (b) very lazy,(c) apathetic, (d) a mixture of all the afore mentioned.

Yeah, thats it. i have been running around like a running thing. I was working on a production in Montreal "someone Between" Absolutely fantabulous, loved it! not only because I was allowed to participate on the production (thank you Milena Buziak,fab director,smart like firecracker, funnier than Stephen Harper at a rave, and the wonderful, talented-to be sure lovely writer performer Chantria Tram, for allowing me to sit and watch you create, awe inspiring.) at the same time I was doing the teaching begining acting thing. Which I very much love doing. So sorry all you who have been waiting and getting bored wondering if I fell off the face of the earth.

To be fair though,i was getting kinda miffed a bit,trying to find something interesting to write about, without being rude or snide-like. but its freaking hard to write about black canadian artist ,when we seem to be in such small numbers, or are we? can i hear from some o you out there? hell no!

ohhh, okay, its art, right?

I Just got through watching a show here in Montreal, "Le bruit des os qui craquent"... It is about child soldiers. First off i want to say my french sucks, so I can't say that I understood most of what was said. Heres the sticking point for me, and I'm willing to listen(and i did) to reasons for the theatre companies choices. In the advertising they talk of child soldiers in the congo, there are pictures in the front of the theatre, of children,African children, sad looking,with rifles,combat gear etc. So when the lights go down and the stage lights go up,,, why are there no african faces on the stage? yeah! I'm sitting there and the two actors playing the child soldiers are white, I'm sitting there thinking, interesting choices, (as i said, my French sucks.) The actors are wearing that camoflage makeup, so i can't really tell, but as it goes on, yep! So what's the deal? The writer took the words from a girl who was a child soldier, the work is good, but am I finicky about not seeing black faces on the stage ,when the text and theme is about black children, it reminds me of kevjumba In his "Asians just aren't cool". I asked others who saw the production about the choices and I heard; (a)They wanted to give a universal theme to the play;(b) They wanted to get away from the idea of child soldiers being only African As in this could be any child anywhere, So why then use the images of African children in the selling of the show. Why use African child soldier stories?
I have ruled out, the lack of French speaking Black actors. maybe Kevjumba is right (i'll paraphrase) "Black just aren't cool."

JUST A THOUGHT

I recently zipped through the net looking for thinks black and beautiful in the theatre and arts scene. Surprisingly there's not a ton of stuff out there. What does this mean? I think its a clear indication that we, and I mean all peoples of colour must write ourselves into the digital world. I was inspired by the blog uppitybrownwomen(I've added the link,) its systemic. Brian fawcett alluded to this in his book the disappearance of the world. The global village we keep hear about is making the world smaller ,but also whiter. oooppps! there,I said it. Even though we have instant communications, there is the idea that those who own the means of communication productions own the story. or, as M and M says "the medium is the message." Simply, if the people who have the access to the technology are the same as the ones who own the old technology(newspapers,books,economy.)the theme will remain the same.

The Disappearance of the World
Oral cultures took a back seat with the technological invention of writing. Writing made ideas permanent. unchanging. did not rely on memory. the printing press disseminated information. making one set of stories prevalent, while oral histories remained local. imperialism,capitalism spread its ideas through not only with force ,but his- stories lets move to the electric age. radio,television, NEWS,MOVIES,NOVELS,all spreading one story.
the global village makes the world smaller, because there is less diversity.

The WWW.

That being said, We have to write,post, print pictures, tell stories. make ourselves known, make the slight or large differences apparent. or we face disappearing, becoming an insignificant speck on the world wide web,
TRY THIS; Take a walk down your street, look at the amount of diversity you see, turn on your t.v (try CBC)is that diversity there? look at a newspaper?

Post. Write. Demand !

Edwige Jean-Pierre, Theatre Practitioner

I really like the term thetre Practitioner, I first heard it from Djanet Sears, it signifies more than an actor, director or writer, but a person who practices the art and craft. an on going practice of the theatrical art.

one such practitioner is Edwige  Jean Pierre.

 Edwige ; I guess I got bitten by the acting bug at a very young age.  Same scenarios as many... I remember putting on shows for my parents and their friends. My mom took me to go see live theatre at the NAC and Le theatre de l'ile in Gatineau and I knew that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  The writing happened when I was in theatre school.  We had playwrighting classes and found myself really enjoying the art of storytelling. I then found myself writing monologues and plays. Who would of thought? It never crossed my mind growing up.

2) I don't have a general theme per say when I write.  But I do tend to write about issues that people can relate to, regardless of their gender, race, religion, class ect. I like to write things that can perhaps make us think as people, as a society.  Does that make sense?

3)I've met so many wonderful artists.  I've had the honour and privilege of presenting a piece during the AfriCanadian Playwrights' Festival in August 2006.  I worked along side Djanet Sears, who I respect very much as writer, artist and woman.  ahdri zhina mandiela,, d'bi.young, Marcia Johnson, Joseph Jomo Pierre, Rebecca Fisseha, Diane Bridge, Djennie Laguerre, Lorena Gale to name a few.  Each have their own style and it's just refreshing.  Studying theatre out west, we never studied any Canadian plays written by African-Canadian playwrights - it's a shame because they don't know what they're missing.

WHO'S KILLING THE DREAM?

Spike Lee gave a talk in Montreal at Concordia University in Feburary. At one point he told the crowd that they should follow their dreams,and beware of those that try to crush them, unfortunately, said Lee "parents kill more dreams than anybody," The dream he was talking about was being an Artist, a culture maker. Most of us can remember our parents telling us to stay in school and get an education, which meant, get a degree in business or sciences, something that guarentes, a good salary." Art! boy ya mus' be mad, you want to what?" but things are changing, i know that when i was a kid if I said I wanted to be a professional athlete my parents would have howled( not because of my two left feet,) but who made money as an athlete. these days parents consider sports a fantastic option. music too. but visual arts, theatre,, no ,no ,no! Believe me i know my son wanted to be a d.j. I tried everything, me! mister Arts, I can't believe i was telling him how hard his life would be,and to consider a more stable gig. Thank god his mother was wiser. she bought him turntables(yeah imagine the tension between us when that happened.) but now So parents if you want to make the community strong, support the Artist in your children.

think about it maybe the next black History month we can get a canadian artist to speak, instead of bringing someone up from the states.

Toronto,Visual Arts And Theatre.

SixAhWi

Karen Richards, Georgia Fullerton, Merlyn Laveau-Regi, Barrington Robinson, Leyton Franklin and Ato Seitu, started a collective in 1993. They are located in Toronto.
This collective stands out. They are looking forward, they have plans for the future. SAW are planning exhibitions for 2012! these folks don't sleep. SAW are centered in the Caribbean diaspora, their Art takes on the socio-political without letting go of the aesthetic. although there is a tendency for a similarity of work style, but this could be due to the articulated, focused objective.
Obsidian Theatre
Theatre in Toronto, for the diaspora sits with the people at Obsidian Theatre. this theatre company has some of the finest actors directors you can imagine. They have the likes of Djanet Sears, Allison Sealy-Smith, Philip Akin. They have a mandate to place the work of African Canadians on the world stage. OTC also have a great apprenticeship/mentoring program, if you want to continue with your professional theatre career.

art by bryan james

Aesthetics of Art

John Berger, Wrote the seminal book "The Ways Of Seeing" he states, " When an image is presented as a work of Art. The way people look at art is affected by a whole series of learnt assumptions Civilization. Form. Status. Taste. It sounds benign, but in reality these precepts also told us in no uncertain terms what is NOT.
The question is, How do we express ourselves within the acceptable, which I mean, taught aesthetic.
Think of this in terms of speech, how we judge people, proper (I mean formal use of language) indicates a range of things. including our thoughts on class, intelligence. The same set assumptions occur with writing. We all need some order, all languages have rules,otherwise we would have a hard time communicating. but who sets the rules? who are the keepers of the keys. and who gets to break the rules? because these assumptions not only tell us about how to perceive art and the world, it also informs us about our ability to make art. Can we write, or talk about our experiences If we speak, paint, draw outside of the acceptable forms.
locating our experience
I know, I write in a haphazard way. I don't care for editing, I like to throw things into the mix that are problematic,grammatically. It looks bad, my spelling is incorrect, but does it interfere with your understanding of my meaning? please comment and I will change I swear I'll succumb to the will of the three or so people that read this blog.
I will pick up the strunk and white, use the spell check.

I am struck by the willingness to listen to others describe my world. I remember being all pumped to work on this blog. now its work. heres something to do. check out the web for African Canadian Artists. How many sites are dead? Are we out there?

Althea Knight Artist- Healer

Althea Knight. Is an Artist and healer, Here work is eclectic, electric and radiates great vibes. Her work which she considers "outsider art" or "Art Brut" this is work created by folks not formerly trained ,but with a high aesthetic value.
She has combined her Healing practices with creative work, I actually think she found a way to work holistically, There is not a place where art starts and healing ends. I spoke to her.

medium; AK;"Originally acrylics on anything,Paper,burlap. canvas.windows. Then later I tried pastels on canvas. Now I,m using pastels on paper, any paper
me; What,s your subject matter
AK; Oh I go with colour as a theme. the Predominance of certain colours. its the spirit as spirit. I work on the journey of the spirit on earth. which is vibrations, energy, which is numbers colours, its a very subconcious . My work is about the healing of me, and my environment. i am the intermediary its a spiritual and holy practice.

Me; You travel a lot how are you able to work?
AK; well i started to work pastels after my luguage was lost with all my work, its somewhere between Italy and Greece.
Me: oh?
AK; Yeah I lost two and one half years work, like that.
Me; how do you see yourself as a black canadian artist
AK; I'm cosmic dust Materialized baby!(laughs) i'm a cosmo-cosmic being

BLACK LIKE WHAT?

I got on the Canadian Art of African Canadians,because after a while I wanted to hear or see what was the experience of other people of colour compared with my own. So the simplest thing was to pick up books, watch films, ask the family.
Well my family, i know them. they know me, I wanted an outside eye. Thats when it started to get Interesting. So much of mainstream reading, at the time,(And i think some today) iTs writing done by people outside of the particular community .
Lets go back. think of "Uncle Toms Cabin" the story of a black man , written by a white woman, plays which made it to broadway like the "four saints in three act," by Gertrude Stein, all black cast, but,, then I think of " porgy and bess" "Emperor Jones what about the bards "othello" which seldom had a black man in the role,so it was writen by a white man about a black man and played by white men. think of all the t.v. shows, how many had black characters written by white people. and in the art galleries there are a number of portraits of black people, but painted by,,you know who.
Black like me
always struck me as a weird piece of work. Heres the deal. in the 1961, a white man gets a procedure done to make himself black. lives in the American South, and writes about it. So what happens here. nobody believes that the situation is dread when black people talk about it, but serious press when white man talks.
but i digress, what do Canadians say about Canadians. try racism eh? and i think to set you off even more read Rinaldo Walcott. or
listen to him

Installations

picture and art bryan james
Ottawa. O town, the capital. I worked on this piece mainly because Ottawa has this vibe about it. like everyone is living the life, government officials and good gigs. i likened it to living in the "big house," but still a slave. the piece is divided into three separate pieces the large one "ancestor looks on" the smaller piece is "youthful idealism" the third piece which looks like a house is called "dreams of the big house" it lasted one year in the same location. by the way these pieces are not sanctioned I think of it as physical grafitti.

Make more ART.

let us know that you're there

Oh for more stuff that is graffiti like and also with a nod to all things toronto and check out kaewonder at themeaningofdope.com

image david maltby art bryan james

The inspiration came from the reading all the self help stuff that was bubling around, the windows of oppurtunity, the positive thinking, thing. People were still unable , as they are now to see the systemic oppression of people of colour, and gender and class. so this was a open air debate about that. it was removed from the park a week later. but i stood for a week! thats pretty good.
do you know of other works done by black artist, please post, or send me the info.

part two

image by david maltby art bryan james.

life in the lane

photo travis raw, art bryan james

1997, Very few installation works i have seen. This one in Christie pits in Toronto

BLACKS DON'T PAINT

WELL,they didn't well at least thats the thing i'm picking up. thats the thing i see. in researching online, and through libraries, it's amazing how many times i come across the same old stuff, "No entries found o this enquirey" that blows so i have set out on this journey to find the artists that did exist. those artist who captured the times in paint in stone, in wood and word. They must be out there.

but like the writing thing maybe we are hidden, i wonder if the painters of the day did something like Georges Sands, she changed her name to a mans ,in aorder to break through the testosterone ceiling. maybe a lot of the artist had a beard, went "white face" had dealers or white friends front for them in order to get paid.

WHAT'S BLACK,WHITE AND READ ALL OVER?

I've been thinking about reading lately, I've been wondering, in Canada, We are known for our writers. We got some great writers. but, okay here's the question . name the last African Canadian writer you read? Yeah. and every year when CBC does their Canada reads thing, boy, yeah. So you got a list of writers?

I'll wait. Okay the usual suspects

• Austin Clarke
• Cecil Foster
• George Elliot Clarke
• Dionne Brand
• Nalo Hopkinson
• Marlene Nourbese Philips

I remember "slammin tar", great book , Fantastic. but look over the list. can you name who wrote "Slammin Tar?" now we have a great many african american writers, lots of caribbean artists. But I want to hear about Canucks. We are specific beings. In a way I never thought about it, i just asumed, in the diaspora, we got some amazing writers, caribbean, French, south american. but where is Canadian talent. Send me a list outside of these

Nalo Hopkinson is a treat, she is one of the few Black science fiction writers i know, okay she says its speculative fiction. but not being a science fiction reader, i couldn't tell the difference. but man is it good! you gotta check it out.

reframing the site

hi, I just got to thinking about what this site is all about. I think I will try to be more specific. I really do feel in this day and age there is a drought of art appreciation. Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking shipping kids of to Stratford, and to the galleries to look at classical works. Although I think its a good idea, along with art specific to their community. This is how culture changes,grows. through the interaction of it's members

So I demand Interaction! I want to get involved in what it this Art is and how it effects this soup called "culture" The young are at it! they are working. Of course I think of hip hop culture, which started in the black community, and now is a intercultural/economic force.


BUY ART NOT PRODUCT;
I can safely say If we spent one tenth of the money on buying black or culturally meaningful art we could and would employ more people in culturally empowering work. Art! yeah, loaded words i mean hair products, clothing designed by local folks, food prepared by local folks, lamps, books, pictures for your wall, music for your ears. Go to local galleries featuring black artist,Ask your museums to have exhibits. Go to the libraries and demand books written by artist such as Nalo Hopkinson, Dionne Brand.

its all good

photo and Art Bryan james


I love this internet thing, the one thing i don't like though is the amount of trouble it takes to use it. can i down load a simple image without feeling like an absolute A hole. It reminds me of art, the things that i see sometimes i just don't understand and i should. after all ,,i'm intelligent .i should get it ...i'm gonna try to do this give me h holler it it works,,,,, by the by i really feel bad i didn't get a chance to lots of things this week i'm in rehearsal . please come and see our work Its called "i'm still here" by Margarita Romero. its very good and we could use some folks in the seats. check out Concordia university theatre dept SIPA TJ building march 11-14th .

bad! bad! bad!

black history month
First, I didn't say, happy Black history Month to you all!Some times I get too busy to celebrate and at other times I wonder, what i'm celebrating for?.
I know that's Bad. Not to put a damper on the celebrations,it's a time to reflect on the advances that have been made. This should be the obligatory Obama part, but, In Canada, We still are pretty invisible, especially in the art scene. Thats why our parents look at us like we have no sense!

how do artists survive out there?

Canadian artists, typically earns an annual salary of $23,500 (about 26 per cent less than the average for all labour force workers). However, visible minority artists largely from the Chinese, black and South Asian communities earn an average of $20,800 a year, or 11 per cent less than the average artist. Immigrant artists fare slightly better, taking home about $23,200 a year, a touch under the average earnings of all artists.
The lowest incomes were aboriginal artist
the first nations artist will earn the least. So to be an artist you got to have something pushing you towards the finish line. Sure, you can point to one or two big money makers in arts. Actually I don't think I can. So all you artist remember get paid! because you never can tell when the next cheque will be coming your way.

whats word on black arts
is something holding us back?

Anthony Joyette, and Dr Charmaine Nelson, talk about this. Dr Nelson really talks about the systemic racism in art history. I have heard her on the radio and she teaches at Mcgill, lecturing on Art History and communications.Dissecting the canon.


"new age of Obama" are we locking ourselves out or is there a chair keeping the doors firmly jammed? people of colour have always been talked about, painted,but We rarely had the opportunity to speak or paint our story.its like when you see in the national art gallery pictures of black women, painted by white men, or listen to Ella singing the Gershwin song book, you may think its from a black body but its from a person outside the culture.
it is now we can speak our words(hopefully) and now we can critique our own stories.during this month and from now on spend some time, renting movies by black artist,like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love,_Sex_and_Eating_the_Bones> Sudz Sutherland.clement virgo, or others

whats it all about

BLACK ARTIST IN CANADA

This blog is to shine a light on all the people i love. Artist! yeah i just think they do so much and are so maligned.
This is specifically for black artist, and Canadian black artist, ones who have spent a long time in this here great white north.The reason i choose the topic is mainly because i am one. and i am tired of not reading about me and others, tired of finding out about things a day late and when i'm a dollar short.There are some great artists out there all working, struggling, trying to say something that is easy to see but hard to say, or hard to see and easy to say.These are my sisters and brothers who help me to make sense of the world, and at times anger me because i can't seem to grasp what world they are in. This is the blog. I hope to use this as a place to create dialogue, to talk about the position we are finding ourselves in, and answering the big question "what is art?" and the bigger one "what is black?" I am also a pretentious person so i will try to keep the blog about art that sits slightly on the edge of the culture. So just enjoy the ride and please post post your comments please tell me to shut up (even though i will not) please send me your gigs, and if i can be of any assistance write..
looking for black artist that reside in canada seems to be difficult.Do you realize not there are many who do not call themselves Black, and i understand.I rememeber talking to a friend who wanted so badly to be an artist, not a black artist or a woman artist,,just an artist, no hyphens. Writer George Elliott Clarke has cited a McGill University study which found that fully 43 per cent of all Black Canadians were not counted as black in the 1991 Canadian census, because they had identified themselves on census forms as British, French or other cultural identities which were not included in the census group of Black cultures.[4] So i'm asking you to step up. I will be talking ,interviewing folks that i know and people i wanted to know but now i can use the subtefuge of "interview" to speak to them.About Me i am Bryan james a theatre/visual/noise/writer artist person who has been at this for a long time.i love the creative process, but lately ive been discovering the purpose of it all. as an artist

tell you what check out the book Ishmael in it the author talks about the Story,enactment and culture; Story is how an individual explain herself in relation to the environment,(cosmology) enactment is when that individual enacts those stories, lives them, culture is when groups of people enact the same story. Artist physicalize the stories(i believe) we do not make culture, we create the artifacts of our culture. manifest the thoughts and the yearnings and the questions of the culture we reside in.and this blog will look at some of the makers of the story.