them (me)

 

"...No I'm not interested," N said in front of a visual art project I have organised, "All artists are racist."
He didn't know I was responsible for the artwork in front of him. I asked him what he meant, adding that I am an artist.
He said, "Don't worry. I shouldn't have said that."
I encouraged him to go on, I was interested to see what he meant.
K asked him, "what about black artists?" I don't think he was aware that there are any balck artists.

We had a bit of a discussion about it. He was afraid of offending me but he explained a bit. Paraphrasing, he had noticed that artists are all white and usually they don't talk about anything that is real for him or "the community", his word. I understood what he was saying. That the art that is usually taught at schools and the kind you see on tv and in museums is 99% done by white artists and mostly white people go to galleries, etc. He found it exclusive so he didn't want to know anything about it.

I told him I make work to change the world. It was the first time he even imagined that art is about something that he can value.

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