Cliff Notes
Each week, our regional Cliff Notes columnists Mariah Green, Vanessa Perez Winder, Jas Keimig, and Sam Wrigglesworth pick the most exciting events and exhibitions on the West Coast.
Ballast: Recent Aesthetic Practices in Response to Anti-Blackness
UCR Arts, Riverside, California
November 4, 2023 to March 30, 2024
Since hearing about Ballast: Recent Aesthetic Practices in Response to Anti-Blackness, an exhibition exploring Afropessimism, I have revisited the show on a handful of lunch breaks to engage in speculative conversations with the works—navigating the pain and pleasures within the exhibition and within its theoretical underpinnings. Ballast responds to materiality of anti-blackness and questions power dynamics within the “human” experience.
Returning to the Scene of Defeat by Keko Jackson (see above image) is a time portal of images that stitches together a displaced community. Jackson renders visible the scar running across generations and throughout this timeline of the Black experience. The inkjet print clearly materializes two oppositional histories: Black sorrow and white joy. Curated by E. Chris Brady, the exhibition includes works by the curator, Boz Deseo Garden, Tarik Garrett, Keko Jackson, Acacia Marable, LaRissa Rogers, and Zenobia.
Reflection: Why at the bottom of the ballast (white supremacy) does the Black experience remain? Can issues around Black hyper-inclusion not be our burden to bear?
ONE NIGHT ONLY, in celebration of the release of Black Punk Now by Chris L. Terry: AFRO-PUNK & LOS PUNKS: We Are All We Have
Pain Sugar Gallery, Riverside, California
December 1, 2023
Riverside’s beloved DIY space Pain Sugar Gallery had a double feature screening of James Spooner’s Afro-Punk and Angela Boatwright’s documentary Los Punks, followed by a Q&A with author Chris L. Terry.
During high school, my oldest sister put me onto the world of backyard punk shows. As Black women, there was an unspoken isolation we both experienced in this scene. While recently recalling the many powerful experiences we had at shows, we finally discussed the antiblackness and tokenism we experienced. Afro-Punk, released in 2003, vocalized what its was like being Black in punk spaces — the exile, the loneliness, and the Black power that my sister and I still speak about to this day.
The band Cipher is prominently featured in this film. Vocalist Maurice “Moe” Mitchell noted that while their white fans would join along in the lyrics, Moe hoped that their participation went past the catchiness of the songs. Hoping the lyrics would radicalize to fight against Black and brown oppression. Reflect with me on lyrics from the song “Where I’m From” by Black punk band Zulu:
“First it’s me then you
I will not bruise
I don’t gotta run
Blessed in my own skin
I will not bruise
I know where I’m from”
Reflection: The rage I carry into the pit is one that seeks reparations and liberation. What do you seek in the pit?