Dwelling: In This Space We Breathe, Khadija Saye (1992-2017)

‘The series was created from a personal need for spiritual grounding after experiencing trauma. The search for what gives meaning to our lives and what we hold onto in times of despair and life changing challenges.’ - Khadija Saye

To most of you, Grenfell Tower won't ring any bells. To Londoners, its mention immediately evokes a raging blaze, a preventable tragedy, and the tragic loss of 72 innocent lives, the victims of social inequality and injustice. Khadija Saye, 24 years old, was one of them.

The Gambian-British artist, who was also known as Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, had achieved early recognition for her tintypes, images processed on thin sheets of metal coated with wet collodion, a technique that was popular in the late 19th century. Khadija was invited to exhibit her series Dwelling: In This Space We Breathe in the Diaspora Pavilion of the 2017 Venice Biennale, where she was the youngest artist.

I am mesmerised by these hauntingly beautiful vintage looking images in which Saye interrogated her heritage and explored the roots of her dual faith (her mother, who also perished in the fire, was a Christian, and her father is Muslim). She spoke of her practice as a way to address ‘the deep-rooted urge to find solace in a higher power’.

Launched in honour of Khadija, Breath is Invisible is a public art project that aims to tackle the lack of diversity in the UK art sector. Until August 7th, they are celebrating Khadija's work with a display of her photographs at 236 Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill, mere blocks from where she lived and so prematurely lost her life.

#khadijasaye #breathisinvisible #photography #blackartist #diaspora #venicebiennale #grenfell #art #artblog #artblogger #beyondthecanvasblog

Tééré, 2018

Andichurai, 2018

Toor-Toor, 2018

Sothiou, 2017

Ragal, 2018

Peitaw, 2018

Nak Bejjen, 2018

Kurus, 2018

Limoŋ, 2018

All photos copyright © 2018 by Estate of Khadija Saye.

Gordon Parks' chronicles of everyday segregation

"I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera." Gordon Parks (1912-2006)

Throughout his over six decade-long career, Parks used his camera to give a voice to those who didn't have one and to address inequities, documenting social injustice and all forms of discrimination.

These images are from the Segregation in the South series that he shot in 1956 for a Life Magazine assignment on race relations in Alabama. The reason I picked them is that I wanted to remind myself of what was 'normal' back in those days, of what millions of people had to endure day in, day out. Separation, inequality, exclusion, poverty, oppression, humiliation. That was the status quo until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially put an end to racial segregation.

At a time that was marked by violence, brutality and social unrest, in this series Parks offers us a portrait of everyday life of the Black community that is dignified and intimate. His striking use of colour photography acts as a very necessary and timely reminder that segregation is part of America's recent history. His compelling and groundbreaking work merged the harrowing honesty of photojournalism with a distinctively empathic visual language that continues to ask questions and inspire.

I know Zoom fatigue is real, but I would strongly encourage you to watch the recording of the excellent live Q&A with Nicole Fleetwood, Khalil Gibran Muhammad and MoMA curator Sarah Meister as part of the museum's Virtual Views programme.

#gordonparks #photography #blackculture #blackamerica #gordonparksfoundation #freedom #socialjustice #blackartists #blackartmatters #moma #artblog #artblogger #beyondthecanvasblog

Department Store, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Airline Terminal, Atlanta, Georgia, 1956

Ondria Tanner and Her Grandmother Window-Shopping, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

At Segregated Drinking Fountain, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Outside Looking In, Mobile, Alabama, 1956

Untitled, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956

All images courtesy of the Gordon Parks Foundation.

In Memoriam: Rep. John Lewis (1940-2020)

"When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something" - John Lewis.

The son of Alabama cotton croppers, Democratic congressman and civil rights activist John Lewis was the last surviving member of the Big Six who organised the 1963 March on Washington where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech.

On March 7, 1965, Lewis led the 54-mile march from Selma to Montgomery in his home state of Alabama demanding voting rights for Black people. After crossing Edmund Pettus Bridge, the demonstrators were stopped by armed police and brutally attacked with bats, whips and tear gas after they refused to turn back. On Bloody Sunday Lewis suffered a broken skull, and other 58 people had to be treated for injuries. A petition has now been started to rename the bridge after him. That same year, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which finally granted African Americans their constitutional right to vote.

www.johnlewisgoodtrouble.com/

#johnlewis #socialactivism #racialequality #civilrights #blackhistory

John Lewis with fellow protestors at Edmund Pettus Bridge, Selma (1965)

© Alabama Department of Archives and History. Photo by Tom Lankford, Birmingham News.

John Lewis is beaten by a state trooper in Selma, Alabama, on March 7, 1965.

AP Photo

Rep. John Lewis stands on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma on Feb. 14, 2015.

Photo Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call via AP