How to Suffer Politely (And Other Etiquette) by Kameelah Janan Rasheed
2014- Digital Chromogenic Print, 24" x 36"
Selected prints were presented in group exhibitions at Womanmade Gallery in Chicago, IL (2014) and Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia, PA (2015)
“Blending the ethos of satirical humor and the syntactical structure and etiquette guides, particularly courtesy guides instructing one to put the interests of others before oneself, “HOW TO SUFFER POLITELY (and Other Etiquette) is a series of aphoristic large format digital prints that explore how suffering, anger and responses to trauma are policed to ensure that said expressions of suffering do not disrupt or declare accountable oppressive institutions and systems. This work engages with an interest in the rise of respectability politics, or the deference to practices that focus on managing and policing the behavior and language of poor Black people. This series considers the choreography and performance of the "angelic negro” who in the face of routinized Black death must display superhuman restraint in repressing anger. This compulsory affective labor of smiling through the pain and performing calculated emotional acrobatics so as not to make others uncomfortable persist as a way to maintain social order. “HOW TO SUFFER POLITELY (and Other Etiquette) seeks to make explicit the implicit scripts and norms that make confronting the nuances of oppression "impolite”.
http://www.kameelahr.com/
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