New John Smith mural labeled “racist" by Wingnut Collective?!?
Well, this was a surprise. Or maybe it wasn’t. Nothing really surprises me these days but I guess I was caught off guard. Apparently some people in the Wingnut Anarchist Collective feel that Gaia’s new mural at the corner of Rowland and Main is racist. They also implied that my review of this mural reflects a lack of factual historical knowledge on my part. Before I comment on this I will note that I contacted one of their representatives directly prior to this and the response was not to my satisfaction so I have decided to respond here. And while I could write a novella on this, I will try to be brief and hit on a couple of points surrounding the piece.
It’s a sad day when two ethnic “minorities" (in this case, the artist and the blogger) are accused of promoting “racist" and “imperialist" ideas against their own demographic by some people who have absolutely no idea what real racism is and have not experienced it. Maybe Mess, the author of that piece, has some notable experiences they try to parallel to that but, judging from Mess’s FB profile pic, no experiences on the level that myself or any notably brown person has. Considering the climate in this country over the past week it seems particularly reckless to be throwing around the word “racism" particularly when it could not be farther from the truth.
Art has many purposes. Gaia is an extremely intelligent individual with an amazing amount of talent. With his twin braids and impeccable grasp on nature, landscape, perspective, and culture, he constantly presents beautifully ironic and sometimes controversial pieces that challenge the viewer to think while paying homage to the Native American aesthetic. There was never at any time when I saw this mural did I think it was glorifying “white supremacy", “imperialism", or anything of the like. Maybe that’s because I am a critical thinker and when I see art, I try to interpret it. I think before I react. That is obviously not what happened here because to me, Gaia’s statement is obvious: Mother Nature (Gaia) Rules All! The piece would only seem racist to someone who takes things at face value and doesn’t take the time to understand the inner workings of what is behind the images that they see.
Wait… doesn’t that sound like one of the root causes of racism?!? To not critically think about the people or things that you encounter and rushing to judgement without thinking about the inner workings or intricacies of those people, images or things is dangerous and is a reflection of one of the reasons why this country is where it is in the matter of race relations in 2013. For Mess to imply that I or Gaia have been brainwashed and mis-educated is another one of those rush judgements that is telling in so many ways: the “white privilege" that Mess talks about in the Wingnut piece is something that allows people who have not actually experienced racism first hand to rush to snap judgements about the education, knowledge, and critical thinking of those of us who have. With my ugly mug of a picture on my blog page, pretty much anyone who comes here knows I am African-American. Why would someone think that I don’t know the history of oppression of indigenous peoples? My history…OUR history?!? I know one or a few of the people over at the Wingnut went to ritzy private high schools before deciding to moonlight as the face of the oppressed so hopefully they can work with the author to address those ideas. I am fully aware of the history of John Smith and his actions but my review of the mural was not there to talk about Captain John Smith’s genocide of indigenous people. I could have but this was not a history lesson. I used a euphemism for that ("left his mark") because a responsible discussion about genocide takes much more than a line or two in a blog post. I use other, more in-depth means to address issues like that. I didn’t address that any more than the fact that the James River used to transport slaves to RVA. That’s not what my review was about. It was about a beautiful, thoughtful, and relevant mural from a very engaged, socially conscious person who challenges people to think with controversial pieces of art. That’s what he does. And he does it well.
As a last note, I will address the bloggers question about more murals about minorities and people of color. They are in the works. In fact, myself and some people around the Richmond Mural Project have already discussed this and it should and will happen eventually. As a long-time lover of murals, graffiti and street art, as well as someone who used to live in Philly ("the Mural Capital of the World"), that has been one of my personal goals for RVA since way before the start of this awesome, powerful street art movement here. That’s SPECIFICALLY listed as one of the initiatives of the organization I run that’s called… wait for it… NATIVES! I represent indigenous peoples of the world every day of my life by default AND by choice.
As I said, I could write a novella on this and pick apart each individual aspect of Mess’s piece that actually reinforces the concepts mentioned like “white privilege". It seems amazingly ironic to me that the Wingnut is writing about Captain John Smith’s racism as the Redskins move into town off Broad St. with little to no critical cultural commentary except from people like me and a VERY few others. I looked and didn’t see any posts on their page about that which you could write about all day particularly with the billions of dollars in profits generated off images many Native Americans feel are racist. Again, it is the unaffected telling those truly affected what is and what is not, or what should or should not be racist to them. Same, old school Richmond (not RVA!) bs.
I don’t know, maybe Mess and the crew at the Wingnut are football fans. Funny. I guess when it comes to race and privilege sometimes people look for the frivolous, easy and pointless battles to fight rather than challenging, real institutionalized problems and negative cultural images that plague this country. Fortunately for Mess and many others in similar organizations, they can bask in the shade of “white privilege" while galavanting as a representative for the Natives. Actually, I think that’s what John Smith did right before he started “leaving his mark" on the RVA region.
Love and Respect,
Mikemetic || TRS-804, NATIVES
I was living in RVA and became involved with street art through punk and the crew "EBT", although not a member. I have street ties to members having gotten up with them in Richmond, and this is vitally important to my understanding of art in street subculture. I was the only visible female trying to write with them most of the time, and Luggage (sorry to out you guys, but not really) can affirm this.
Having been a witness to RVA pre and post "Wingnut", I wholly agree with TRS, but I will go one step further. The usage of the term "white privilege" by groups like the "Wingnut" is nothing but a mask of internal and perpetually racist strategy. That collective would not and cannot exist without it, i.e. they have a mortgage on their house in a predominantly black neighborhood. Also, extending the theoretical definition (of "white privilege") radically is another means of affirming that certain "privileges" can belong or simply are "white", and this language is completely useless debasement.
This mural represents the invisible foundation that white supremacy in Virginia is founded on and that will not sustain it because it is not natural, but utilized with nature as an illusory vehicle; an exploitation disguised as a rationalization. It is a symbol of the flowing undercurrent which can be denied but not infinitely forsaken. Essentially, white supremacy juxtaposed to the infinite beauty of the landscape is a trivial means to an end. The landscape will dominate us all and our oppressions. No matter how unpleasant a structure, the beauty of nature will always supervene. This image is more or less poking fun at one white man's monstrous ego, one so large that it carried the ship it came in on and felt itself superior to the indomitable land it attempted to "discover".
It is surreal and ironic. Duh.
I now live in Bushwick, Brooklyn next to Williamsburg Industrial Complex, which contains one of the best and biggest legal collections of murals in all the five boroughs.