The Artist-Activist: History and Healing through Art

Abstract

BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 79, NO. 1 | 27 79 No.1 THE ARTIST-ACTIVIST: HISTORY AND HEALING THROUGH ART By Angela Davis Johnson ,ZDVLQWKHZLQWHURIP\OLIHZKHQ,¿UVWXQGHUVWRRG there is peace in the brushstrokes of a painting. I was fourteen years old, which to some may seem like the spring of life, but for me, everything had become numb because of a major FKDQJH0\PRWKHUP\VLEOLQJVDQG,KDGÀHGWKHVDQG\FRDVW of Norfolk,Virginia, to escape homelessness and landed in the gumbo mud of Lambrook in Phillips County, Arkansas. We had been evicted from our apartment, and rather than live in a shelter, my mother bravely relocated us to our family-owned homestead where she grew up. We faced many challenges in our new rural community. Phillips County, where one of the largest lynchings in America took place during the 1919 Elaine Riots, was still affected by the tendrils of deep-rooted racism. The Elaine School District, the primary education system for the surrounding area, was in constant threat of being taken over by the state and in academic distress.Though WKHODFNRIMREVEH\RQGIDUPLQJPDGHLWGLI¿FXOWIRUHYHU\RQH in the community, my family faced tremendous judgment and mistreatment from our neighbors because of our poverty. Despite these trials, my mother always stressed the importance of seeing and cultivating our own beauty through art and prayer. She made creativity a priority for the renewal of our spirits. We sang songs, read books, and whittled carvings from broken branches of cedar, oak, and fruit trees as we cleared the land and rebuilt our life. My mother also encouraged me to continue my studies of the visual arts by buying supplies whenever she could spare, as well as allowing me to spend hours at the nearest accessible public library (thirty minutes away in Helena, AR) to research art movements and methods. Painting was my way to process and heal. In an early piece I created, Through the Darkness, Into the Light,2 my healing process is particularly evident. When I started this painting, I was navigating the hardships of my environment by studying history. I read about Jewish families who hid in a cave for more than a year during the Holocaust and I became encouraged by their strength and resilience. To express this, I painted with vibrant saturated colors an image of a Black girl sitting beneath a tree surrounded by books as Jewish men, women, and children exited a dark cavernous hole. Painting their freedom felt like my freedom. With each brushstroke I put all of my problems on the canvas and I could see my way through the growing pains. What started as a cathartic practice of retelling a story became a way to connect with others and their life experiences. At the present time, I continue to approach art DQGZHOOQHVVE\UHWHOOLQJDPSOLI\LQJDQGXSOLIWLQJGLI¿FXOW but important stories. However, being an artist with an interest in African American and world history, as well as social justice issues, I am often confronted with imagery and WH[WWKDWLVGLI¿FXOWWRDEVRUEERWKPHQWDOO\DQGVSLULWXDOO\$V a means to gain a deeper understanding of my craft and life, I use certain methodologies (i.e., meditation, connecting with nature, studying inspirational artists) that aid how I maneuver through these moments and process information. Meditating and connecting with nature is an important methodology EHFDXVHLWDOORZVRQHWRUHÀHFWGHHSO\RQDVXEMHFWDQGIHHO connected to something larger than one’s self. Along with meditation and connecting with nature, part of my process has become searching and learning from modern and contemporary artists who resonate with my own beliefs— those who have a proclivity to illuminate the past and to bring understanding to the present, which could potentially allow others to reimagine the future. As a way to speak truth about my journey as an artistactivist for young people and educators curious about how history and healing converge in art, in this article I share how I and other artists have been able to activate healing spaces and de...