Artist Mankwe Ndosi led Matakwe, a group of young African American artists and activist in a critical and performative response toOPEN-ENDED(the art of engagement)
Tonight, for the first time since it opened, I began to sense what Open Ended is all about…not that I could articulate it clearly. But, seeing Tish, a young African American poet, read a poem about the difficult and moving relationship between a daughter and her battered mother in the Rirkrit corner; hearing a poetic response to the Ralph Lemon installation by another young poet; piling into the video booth to catch a poem inspired by Nakasako’s freedom piece; or listening in on a young dreaded kid dialogue with a silent James Baldwin and ask, “Help me out. You’re an artist. Tell me how I’m supposed to look.”…revealed some evanescent and fleeting aspect of engagement and dialogue. It is precious because it comes and goes. We make pictures ourselves in the galleries, as we move among the artworks. Tonight, I’m thankful to the Walker for the dialogic process that gave birth to this extraordinary exhibition but also to these brave young people who so selflessly gave themselves over to interpretation and engagement.Bravo Matakwe.
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