Damali Abrams, interdisciplinary artist |
We met at the opening reception of her exhibit at A.I.R. Gallery in DUMBO. In person she was quiet and humble, on the video screens we viewed 365 of her characters. Summer of 2011, I watched a video she exhibited addressing the hot button issue at that time - unattractive Black women destined for lifelong singlehood - at an event at Bluestockings book store organized by her sister, Abiola Abrams. On July 18, Columbus Circle was under the deluge of a summer thunderstorm storm so we took refuge in the Time Warner Center for this interview.
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My name is Damali Abrams. I’m an interdisciplinary
artist but I work mostly right now in video and performance but I also do
collage and mixed media.
How long have you
been involved in the arts?
Well, I’ve pretty much been involved in the arts all my life;
I studied dance growing up, I’ve written poetry since I was a little girl and
then I started getting into more visual art as I got older.
Why were you drawn to
the visual arts medium? What about visual arts says, “Damali”?
I started by doing collages. I’ve always loved magazines,
I’ve love images. I was never very good at drawing so I always just cut out
images and put them together and make collages out of them.
And that lead to your
video art?
Yeah, I was doing collage for a while and through that work,
I got into grad school. And during grad school, I had an advisor who kept
saying let the content dictate the form and as I thought about what I was
trying to express, video seemed better at the time.
When we first met, it
was at your show, Autobiography of the
Year. Explain that piece briefly.
Autobiography of the Year was a four screen video installation; during 2009 I recorded
video diaries every single day and then I edited them together in four quarters
of the year and into that installation.
Before doing that project, did you keep a diary on a regular basis or was that project your first go at chronicling your life?
I obsessively keep diaries. I’ve been keeping diaries since
I was a little girl; I have diaries going back to 10 years old. Recently in the
past couple of years, I started doing live readings from my childhood and adolescent diaries.
Tell us about
Self-Help TV.
Self-Help TV was a video and performance project that
started also when I was in grad school. The idea of it was taking 2 things that
I guess I’ve been addicted to or also obsessed with – television and self-help
– I grew up watching lots and lots and lots of TV but also reading a lot of
books, specifically reading a lot of self-help books and being critical
of both and thinking of ways of if I could create my own television network
around this idea of self-help what would it look like.
Did you have any
reservations about sharing your life so openly?
Yeah, definitely. In real life, I’m a very guarded person.
I’m a very private person; I was raised to be very private, to hold everything
in and I guess I got to the point where I realized that was unhealthy and I
needed an outlet for it and so I used my art in that way—to help me express
things that I’m uncomfortable expressing in my life. I mean things that my
closest friends don’t even know about me have come out in my art.
Discuss your
involvement in Black Art in America.
As soon as I heard that [Black Art in America] that site, or
a social network started I was excited about it because there are so many of us
but I guess it’s not always easy for us to connect so it’s great to have this
one space where we can look at each other’s work, communicate with each other…
yeah, it’s great.
In any language, what
is your favorite word, and why?
My favorite word is mellifluence
which means a "sweet, smooth flow" and because of the definition it’s why I
really like it. I tend to be very tight, stressed… and I’m always just trying
to go with the flow, get more and more relaxed and so that’s why I like that
word.
By nature you’re a
closed person but your art also shares a lot about you… is there any level of eroticism
in your art?
Well, a little bit. I did one event, my friend Tania
Romero had an event where people were sharing erotic poetry and that was
the first time that I publicly shared any of my erotic poetry. I write erotic
poetry and short stories but I don’t really share it with anyone.
Is there a purpose to
that eroticism? Is it personal or when you do share it, is there a purpose for
putting eroticism in the art?
It’s a natural part of who I am but I guess I’m just working
up the courage to be able to share it more openly.
What’s the message
behind your art?
The overall message is about, how do I say it, it’s about
being comfortable with ourselves. I feel like Iyanla Vanzant always says
when you share your story you’ll heal yourself and you’ll heal somebody else. I feel as a culture most of us are very guarded, most of us don’t really
share a lot of things and because of that we harbor all this shame about
different parts of ourselves. Anytime I do open up about something that I’m so
embarrassed about there’s always somebody else who says me too, I can totally
relate, I’m so happy you said that so I think that the more we’re able to do
that the more we’re able to connect as humans, the more we’re able to find
common ground. I think that’s the beginning of getting to the path of world
peace, where we can all just see that we’re all, on some level, the same.
What stereotype do
you fit?
Angry Black Woman [laughs]; I’m very angry. Starving artist
[laughs]; I don’t have any money. That’s all I can think of right now.
Any upcoming projects?
I have an exhibit coming up in Maine
at the Emery Center
in October. I have another exhibit coming up at LIU in September. I have
a couple of exhibits coming up in early 2013; one is an exhibit curated by Carl Hazlewood, an exhibit of Guyanese artists. And another exhibit—I’m part of
a women’s artist collective called tART—and we have an exhibit that’s
also opening in January 2013.
Are these exhibits
all visual arts? Are they mixed media?
I have another exhibit coming up at the Caldwell
Center in New
Jersey. That one’s gonna be a piece called, “I Heart
Barack”—it’s a portrait of Barack Obama that I put all these heart stickers all
around. The others are all mostly video. I’m still working out what I wanna do
for the LIU exhibit, I’m not exactly sure, but the others are all gonna be
video and for the tART exhibit next year, I’ve been challenged to include dance
in my work again so I’m figuring out how I’m gonna do that.
I’d like for you to
complete this statement: If my muse were an animal, it would be…
A unicorn.
Why?
They’re just magical. Yeah, otherworldly, magical, how I
feel; just out of place in this world but beautiful, magical, special.
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This is a great interview -- thank you!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Abiola!
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