Danielle Walden

The History 

Ancient Greek and Roman sculptures were not originally the white marble that we see in museums today. Analysis of these statues has revealed traces of vibrant paint. Greek and Roman artists are proven to have used pigments to portray lifelike skin color of varying shades for every sculpture. Similar to the statues, ancient Greek and Roman culture was not homogeneously ?white.? These cultures were often intertwined with that of Egyptians and were in league with cities in other areas of Africa at the time. Greeks and Romans distinguished citizens based on their homeland, not on the color of their skin; as such, differences between races were not emphasized or used as a basis for separation or discrimination. In fact, in antiquity there have been many instances of statues, paintings, and writing about Romans with darker skin that hailed from various regions in Africa. These sculptures were carved with beautiful dark stones like basalt and then layered with mahogany and umber pigments to create lifelike brown skin. In reality, yet not discussed much in academia, people with darker skin were also free to become writers, scholars, military men, and anything else available to free citizens. 

Towards the end of the medieval era, remains of ancient statues began to be uncovered, but the vibrant paint of earlier years had already been worn down. Thus, the white marble forms that the Renaissance artists praised and imitated were actually not complete images of what the Greeks and Romans had really created. This is how ?whiteness? was further acquainted with the idea of beauty, purity, and perfection. Even when it was later revealed that Greek and Roman statues would have had bright primary color schemes, scholars disavowed these facts because European art at the time associated ?bright and colorful? with ?primitive.? It?s so important to keep historical contexts in mind when it comes to what we think we know. Just as those scholars disposed of the colorful truth of Greek and Roman statues, it?s all too easy for us to take things at face value and try to discredit reality. Even if things fade with time -- as the paint on ancient marble surfaces have done -- it?s our duty to analyze the situation beyond what we think to be true. Instead of shallow observations and taking ?form? as fact, we must instead investigate the flecks that still remain on artifacts. 

The Future 

For centuries, nonwhite cultures have acted as the ?inspiration? for things that later became integrated into European and Western culture. Despite this appropriation, an insufficient amount of work has been done to lift up nonwhites -- particularly so with blacks. I personally feel that we will be truly integrated as a culture when we stop treating the ?other? as the ?Other? that is only to be included for ?diversity points.? I want to see black people depicted like real humans, not just happy-go-lucky, diluted Jim-Crow-residual caricatures, not as sassy aggressive confrontational personas, not as ?The Token.? I want real humanity, real multifacetedness, and I want it in the smallest ways possible -- in things as routine and integral as commercials, billboard advertisements, packaging for products, etc. I don?t want black people to be added as an afterthought, or as a throwaway diversity checkmark, or as an easily erasable plot device. I want black people to be given the same love, dedication, and appreciation that we find sculpted into the crevices of those ancient Greek and Roman statues, whose color we lost long ago and never tried to find again. Using the visual language of these statues in my piece is not equal to using ?white? art culture to uplift black beauty. Instead, I am reclaiming what white culture has stolen from black beauty, that which white culture has turned into white beauty. This piece is not an oxymoron; rather it intends to restore the knowledge that people of color have continuously been the invisible foundations of ?white culture? itself. I just want to see my people depicted with the beauty and grace and power that exists in all shapes and shades of us. I just want my people to be given the same love and attention and devotion and dedication in art that we give to whites. Therefore, I want black strength and beauty, immortalized.

Taylor Johnson

The inspiration for my piece came from the constant struggles of being a Black American in the United States. I intentionally wanted to present art that would be considered controversial because that is the world we live in- the system that was created to liberate citizens was established in a timeframe where not all humans were seen as equal. So as a community, how can we thrive in a society that has never catered to us? In today?s society, Black people are being slaughtered at the hands of those we rely on to serve & protect us. We are tired of living in fear & that is what the L portrays.

Malik J. Norman

The shadow side of the ?B? addresses the historical abuse against Black Gold. Despite being stripped from antiquities and culture the people of the Black Diaspora navigate oppressive forces to discover self within the constructed myth of the Black identity. The three main symbols in its work: The Black body, clay, and rope. The clay pays homage to the vast lands where lynching occurred historically across America. The rope directly references extrajudicial lynching through the way it hangs but it also symbolizes oppression. The Black body has anonymous ancestral bodies who were martyrs on their path for liberation. We stand on the bodies of Black Gold who prayed for a better future.

Kaila Haugabrook 

The theme for my side of the B is based on the caricature Topsy, from the book, Uncle Tom?s Cabin(1852). The book?s representation of Topsy, as this cunning, always up to no good child, is something that has plagued black children, in this specific instant black girls. Being described and treated as a ?pickaninnie? which is prevalent today, is why I chose this theme. I am a black woman, who grew from a world that thought of me as this same archetype. I wanted to bring to light the distortion such a stereotype brings upon us, oftentimes unwarranted. With this, I hope to bring clarity to those who knowingly or not have this view on black women and black girls.