Feeling Our Way Through: Navigating Emotion in Black Masculine Youth (2021)
Though ideas and beliefs about masculinity are universal, there are distinct meanings for persons who identify as “Black” and “masculine”. Feeling Our Way Through Navigating Emotion in Black Masculine Youth examines how adolescent persons who identify as Black and masculine express themselves within dominant expectations for masculinity. Specifically, where does traditional masculine culture deem it safe for Black masculine youth to embody a range of emotions without social consequences, without losing their status as masculine?
This work was exhibited in three installments: Leave it All on the Court, In Loving Memory…, and Flex on these Ho*s.
Special thanks to the Howard Hughes Corporation, Vanessa Rodrigues, Diane Dwyer, Mike Sheehan, and Jeff Gantz for making my imagination come true.
Leave it All on the Court
Leave it All on the Court was an installation that poses the basketball court as a space for Black masculine youth to express a range of emotions without negative social consequences.
In Loving Memory…
In Loving Memory… was a recreation of a candlelight street vigil. The installation explores how Black masculine youth express feelings of grief and loss without negative social consequences and presents a collection of found objects, handmade materials, and video testimonials. Visitors were welcome to contribute a minimum of one small personal item in remembrance & pouring libations in loving memory of their own loved ones. This work was sponsored by Kingsman Academy Public Charter School of Washington, DC and designed and constructed in collaboration with a cohort of students and staff.
Flex on these Ho*s
Flex (verb): to boast or display excessive pride.
Flex on these Ho*s paraded the spirit of bravado and braggadocio. Visitors were invited to question the social contexts in which Black masculine youth are permitted to express agency of their own sense of power in a grandiose and brash way without negative social consequences.