0:00:01.533,0:00:04.467
I believe there is beauty

0:00:04.467,0:00:08.284
in hearing the voices of people[br]who haven't been heard.

0:00:08.445,0:00:10.743
[Drawing the Blinds, 2014]

0:00:10.743,0:00:13.448
[The Jerome Project[br](Asphalt and Chalk III 2014)]

0:00:13.448,0:00:16.174
[Beneath an Unforgiving Sun[br](from a Tropical Space), 2020]

0:00:16.174,0:00:17.279
That's a complex idea

0:00:17.359,0:00:20.099
because the things that must be said

0:00:20.099,0:00:24.049
are not always lovely,

0:00:24.049,0:00:26.233
but somehow,

0:00:26.233,0:00:28.964
if they're reflective of truth,

0:00:28.964,0:00:33.833
I think fundamentally[br]that makes them beautiful.

0:00:35.650,0:00:39.868
(Music)

0:00:41.900,0:00:46.183
There's the aesthetic beauty of the work

0:00:46.183,0:00:50.567
that in some cases functions[br]as more of a Trojan horse.

0:00:50.851,0:00:57.018
It allows one to open their hearts[br]to difficult conversations.

0:00:58.001,0:01:03.585
Maybe you feel attracted to the beauty,

0:01:03.585,0:01:07.868
and while compelled by the technique,

0:01:07.868,0:01:09.052
the color,

0:01:09.052,0:01:11.271
the form or composition,

0:01:11.271,0:01:13.485
maybe the difficult[br]conversation sneaks up.

0:01:13.485,0:01:16.570
[Billy Lee & Ona Judge[br]Portraits in Tar, 2016]

0:01:16.570,0:01:19.699
I really taught myself how to paint

0:01:19.699,0:01:22.959
by spending time at museums

0:01:22.959,0:01:26.443
and looking at the people that --

0:01:26.443,0:01:30.425
the artists, rather, that I was[br]told were the masters.

0:01:31.219,0:01:33.573
Looking at the Rembrandts,

0:01:33.573,0:01:35.124
Renoir,

0:01:35.124,0:01:36.431
Manet,

0:01:36.431,0:01:38.014
it becomes quite obvious

0:01:38.014,0:01:41.757
that if I'm going to learn[br]how to paint a self-portrait

0:01:41.757,0:01:44.070
by studing those people,

0:01:44.070,0:01:45.995
I'm going to be challenged

0:01:45.995,0:01:49.440
when it comes to mixing my skin

0:01:49.440,0:01:52.465
or mixing the skin[br]of those people in my family.

0:01:53.026,0:01:57.113
There's literally formulas[br]written down historically

0:01:57.113,0:02:00.011
to tell me how to paint white skin --

0:02:00.011,0:02:02.743
what colors I should use[br]for the underpainting,

0:02:02.743,0:02:06.060
what colors I should use[br]for the impasto highlights.

0:02:06.377,0:02:09.217
That doesn't really exist for dark skin.

0:02:09.878,0:02:11.112
It's not a thing.

0:02:11.312,0:02:13.778
It's not a thing because

0:02:13.778,0:02:17.896
the reality is our skin wasn't[br]considered beautiful.

0:02:19.412,0:02:20.278
The picture,

0:02:20.278,0:02:24.928
the world that is represented[br]in the history of paintings

0:02:24.928,0:02:26.945
doesn't reflect me.

0:02:27.312,0:02:32.380
It doesn't reflect the things[br]that I value in that way,

0:02:32.380,0:02:36.313
and that's the conflict that I struggle[br]with so frequently --

0:02:36.313,0:02:40.998
is I love the technique[br]of these paintings,

0:02:40.998,0:02:43.712
I have learned from the technique[br]of these paintings,

0:02:43.712,0:02:49.082
and yet I know that they have[br]no concern for me.

0:02:50.132,0:02:53.647
And so there are so many of us

0:02:53.647,0:02:55.897
who are amending this history

0:02:55.897,0:02:58.470
in order to simply say we were there.

0:02:59.719,0:03:02.718
Because you couldn't see[br]doesn't mean we weren't there.

0:03:03.115,0:03:04.349
We have been there.

0:03:04.514,0:03:05.849
We have been here.

0:03:06.481,0:03:12.149
We've continued to be seen[br]as not beautiful,

0:03:12.149,0:03:13.999
but we are,

0:03:13.999,0:03:15.483
and we are here.

0:03:16.132,0:03:20.116
So many of the things that I make

0:03:20.116,0:03:24.670
end up as maybe futile attempts[br]to reinforce that idea.

0:03:24.670,0:03:27.351
[Drawing the Blinds, 2014]

0:03:27.351,0:03:30.224
[Seeing Through Time, 2018]

0:03:30.224,0:03:36.163
Even though I've had the Western training,

0:03:36.163,0:03:39.978
my eye is still drawn[br]to the folks who look like me.

0:03:40.599,0:03:42.778
And so sometimes in my work,

0:03:42.778,0:03:48.613
I have used strategies like whiting out[br]the rest of the composition

0:03:48.613,0:03:53.494
in order to focus on the character[br]who may go unseen otherwise.

0:03:54.497,0:03:59.895
I have cut out other figures[br]from the painting,

0:03:59.895,0:04:02.629
one, to either emphasize their absence,

0:04:02.629,0:04:07.747
or two, to get you to focus[br]on the other folks in the composition.

0:04:07.747,0:04:10.251
[Intravenous (From[br]a Tropical Space), 2020]

0:04:10.505,0:04:15.494
So The Jerome Project aesthetically[br]draws on hundreds of years

0:04:15.494,0:04:19.259
of religious icon painting.

0:04:19.610,0:04:21.362
A kind of aesthetic structure

0:04:21.362,0:04:28.078
that was reserved for the church,

0:04:28.078,0:04:29.752
reserved for saints.

0:04:33.382,0:04:37.997
It's a project that is an exploration[br]of the criminal justice system.

0:04:39.663,0:04:43.847
Not asking the question[br]are these people innocent or guilty,

0:04:43.847,0:04:48.596
but more, is this the way[br]that we should deal with our citizens.

0:04:49.731,0:04:51.697
I started a body of work

0:04:51.697,0:04:54.736
because after being[br]separated from my father

0:04:54.736,0:04:57.213
for almost 15 years,

0:04:57.213,0:05:00.048
I reconnected with my father

0:05:00.048,0:05:06.130
and I really didn't know[br]how to make a place for him

0:05:06.130,0:05:07.400
in my life.

0:05:07.615,0:05:10.881
As with most things I don't understand,

0:05:10.881,0:05:12.881
I work them out in the studio.

0:05:13.715,0:05:17.398
And so I just started making[br]these portraits of mugshots,

0:05:17.398,0:05:21.415
starting because I did[br]a Google search for my father

0:05:21.415,0:05:24.449
just wondering what had happened[br]over this 15 year period.

0:05:24.648,0:05:25.833
Where had he gone?

0:05:26.032,0:05:27.282
And I found his mugshot,

0:05:27.282,0:05:29.300
which of course was of no surprise,

0:05:29.300,0:05:31.849
but I found in that first search,

0:05:31.849,0:05:36.534
97 other Black men with exactly[br]the same first and last name

0:05:36.534,0:05:38.002
and I found their mugshots,

0:05:38.002,0:05:40.417
and that was a surprise.

0:05:40.618,0:05:42.667
And not knowing what to do,

0:05:42.667,0:05:44.466
I just started painting them.

0:05:45.317,0:05:48.718
Initially, the tar was[br]a formula to allow me

0:05:48.718,0:05:53.806
to figure out how much of these men's[br]life had been lost to incarceration,

0:05:53.806,0:05:56.085
but I gave up that,

0:05:56.085,0:06:00.584
and the tar became far more[br]symbolic as I continued,

0:06:00.584,0:06:01.634
because what I realized

0:06:01.634,0:06:05.501
is the amount of time that you spend[br]incarcerated is just the beginning

0:06:05.501,0:06:08.369
of how long it's going to impact[br]that rest of your life.

0:06:08.586,0:06:11.751
So in terms of beauty within that context,

0:06:11.751,0:06:16.852
I know from my friend's family,

0:06:16.852,0:06:19.037
who have been incarcerated,

0:06:19.037,0:06:21.369
who are currently incarcerated,

0:06:21.369,0:06:23.170
folks want to be remembered.

0:06:23.869,0:06:25.803
Folks want to be seen.

0:06:26.403,0:06:29.687
We put people away for a long time,

0:06:29.687,0:06:30.991
in some cases,

0:06:30.991,0:06:33.220
for that one worst thing[br]that they've done.

0:06:33.386,0:06:35.338
So to a degree,

0:06:35.338,0:06:39.037
it's a way of just saying ...

0:06:39.037,0:06:40.222
I see you.

0:06:40.554,0:06:41.840
We see you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I think that,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as a gesture,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is beautiful.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In the painting "Behind[br]the Myth of Benevolence,"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there's almost this curtain of Thomas[br]Jefferson painted and pulled back

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to reveal a Black woman who's hidden.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This Black woman is at once[br]Sally Mae Hemings,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but she's also every other Black woman[br]who was on that plantation, Monticello,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and all the rest of them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The one thing we do know[br]about Thomas Jefferson

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is that he believed in liberty.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Maybe more strongly than anyone[br]who's ever written about it,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and if we know that to be true,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if we believe that to be true,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
then the only benevolent thing[br]to do in that context

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
would be to extend that liberty.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And so in this body of work,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I use two separate paintings

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that are forced together[br]on top of one another

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to emphasize this tumultuous[br]relationship between Black and white

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in these compositions.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And so that --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that contradiction,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that devastating reality[br]that's always behind the curtain,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what is happening[br]in race relations in this country,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that's what this painting is about.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The painting is called "Another Fight[br]for Remembrance."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The title speaks to repitition.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The title speaks to the kind of violence[br]against Black people

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by the police

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has happened and continues to happen

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and we are now seeing it happen again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The painting is sort of editorialized[br]as a painting about Ferguson.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's not not about Ferguson,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but it's also not not about Detroit,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's also not not about Minneapolis.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The painting was started because

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
on a trip to New York

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to see some of my own art

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with my brother,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as we spent hours walking[br]in and out of galleries,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we ended the day by being stopped[br]by an undercover police car

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the middle of the street.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These two police officers[br]with their hands on their guns

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
told us to stop.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They put us up against the wall,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they accused me of stealing art

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
out of a gallery space where[br]I was actually exhibiting art.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And as they stood there[br]with their hands on their weapons,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I asked the police officer[br]what was different about my citizenship

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
than that of all of the other people[br]who were not being disturbed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in that moment.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
He informed me that they[br]had been following us for two hours,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that they had been getting complaints[br]about Black men --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
two Black men walking[br]in and out of galleries.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That painting is about the reality

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that it's not a question

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of if this is going to happen again,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's a question of when.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This most recent body of work[br]is called "From a Tropical Space."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This series of paintings[br]is about Black mothers.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The series of paintings takes place[br]in a super-saturated,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
maybe surrealist world

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not that far from the one we live in.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But in this world,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the children of these Black women

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are disappearing.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
What this work is really about is trauma.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The things that Black women[br]and women of color in particular

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in our community

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have to struggle through

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in order to set their kids out[br]on the path of life.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
What's encouraging for me

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is that this practice of mine[br]has given me the opportunity

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to work with young people in my community.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm quite certain[br]the answers are not in me,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but if I'm hopeful at all

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's that they may be in them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
NXTHVN is a project that started[br]about five years ago.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And NXTHVN is a 40,000-square-foot[br]arts incubator in the heart

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the Dixwell neighborhood[br]in New Haven, Connecticut.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is a predominantly[br]Black and Brown neighborhood.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It is a neighborhood that has[br]the history of jazz at every corner.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Our neighborhood in many ways[br]has been disinvested in.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Schools are struggling to really[br]prepare our population

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for the futures ahead of them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I know that creativity[br]is an essential asset.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It takes creativity

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to be able to imagine a future

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that is so different than the one[br]that is before you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And so every artist in our program[br]has a high school studio assistant.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's a high school student[br]coming from the city of New Haven

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
who works with them[br]and learns their craft,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
learns their practice.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And so we've seen the ways in which[br]pointing folks at the power of creativity

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can change them.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Beauty is complicated[br]because of how we define it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think that beauty and truth

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are intertwined somehow.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's something beautiful[br]in truth-telling.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That is --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that as an act, truth-telling,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the myriad ways it manifests.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There's beauty in that.