"City Blues" for Long Beach Community Table
Anonymity or isolation?
It’s common for me to not know who my audience is. In a gallery setting, there’s a good chance I don’t know the people looking at my work (unless it’s the opening reception.) On social media I have woeful understanding of who’s seeing what. There’s an expectation to attract new followers and increase your exposure, but I’ve never been able to fully commit myself to that goal. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in the underground tradition where not everything was for everybody. It was inclusive, just not in a pandering sort of way. You had to go to it; it rarely came to you.
For those of us who’ve incorporated activism into our practice, expanding one’s audience comes with the possibility of increasing the meaningful effect it can have. As someone who struggles with self-promotion, that payoff has motivated me to put myself out there on a number of occasions- but it sure don't come easy.
City Blues is more informed by graffiti in that way. Get in, get out; only the work gets seen. But at the same time, I'm definitely out to connect with something...
Looking for patterns in the static... Or overly romanticizing garbage?
A friend, frequent collaborator, and reader of this very newsletter once suggested that I could possibly interview some of the unhoused people while out in the streets. Perhaps find an appropriate and respectful way to bring them into the conversation. He isn't the first person to propose doing this either... No doubt, their suggestions come from a real place allyship- It's on all of us to amplify the voices and experiences of those who've been marginalized by society.
I'm just unsure that I'm skilled enough - as an artist, as writer, as a human- to navigate any of the thousands of potential pitfalls that could come from taking on that kind of project. I'd be terrified of accidentally slipping into a state of exploitation - part clueless anthropologist accidentally crushing a sacred plant; part white savior looking for a good scoop.
But I guess its that same fear that keeps Evil people well fed and resting comfortably.
So for now, City Blues will remain an anonymous affair- A constellation of separate bodies that have all temporarily come together; forever in solitude but hopefully a little less alone.
Long Beach Community Table is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, cooperative (meaning that all volunteers and recipients share in the effort and the benefits), that nourish those who are struggling and provides resources that allow us all to mutually sustain each other, our families, and our neighbors. In the spirit of community, many of our volunteers are also recipients, and vice versa…this is what makes us a true mutual aid organization and not a charity.
We envision LBCT as the platform of a cooperative, mutual-aid society where everyone involved gives, receives, and takes care of each other to first meet basic needs, then to collectively create greater self-sufficiency for individuals, families, and communities.
This is part 3 of an ongoing series - You can find part 1 here and part 2 here
Give Thanks (abolish Black Friday)
A call to action, commonly known by the initialism CTA, is a strategic marketing tool designed to spur an immediate response from an audience, guiding them toward a specific action.
NNH began with the (perhaps naive) hope that it could be of service to folks who needed it. I wasn't exactly sure who that meant- Was it the potential readership? The Mutual Aid groups that would be featured in each post? Or other creative types (equally fed up with the constant "me at the center" paradigm required by our Tech Overlords) looking for a place to get weird and do some good.
SO, if you're out there- whomever you may be- Let me know. Leave a comment. Click a link. Tell a friend. Pitch an idea. Do anything to feel less alone in the world.
Member discussion