Seeing Color

Hey everyone. It feels like it's been a while, but I finally made it into China. It was a very long and stressful flight until I was able to settle down my bags. To give you a rundown of what happened that day, basically I didn't have an entry visa until the last minute. The paperwork for my visa took longer than expected and I missed the first part of staff orientation. The visa center in Berlin said they would give me my passport on last Tuesday at 2pm, although I wouldn't know if my visa would be approved until I got my passport back that day. I was all packed because I wanted to catch a 6pm flight out that same day. So I arrived early at the visa center and I got my visa approved at 2pm. Immediately after, I quickly went home, bought my ticket, and headed to the airport for a 17 hour flight, with a connection at Qatar. After traveling another two hours to reach Zhuhai, I finally got to my hotel. I spent the next few days looking for apartments and settling down. The second night was somewhat stressful as getting money was difficult. Most places didn't take my American credit card and many ATMs didn't take my bank card. Everyone here pays digitally with their phone, but you can't set that up without a Chinese bank account, which you can't set up without first getting a residency permit. A few kind staff members helped me out and now I am feeling ok. My initial thoughts on Zhuhai is it is very hot and tropical, weather conditions that I am not a fan of. Otherwise, food here is very good and cheap, although I am biased towards Cantonese food. I'll keep you updated on anything new once classes start.

For today, I am interviewing Accra Shepp. Accra got his BA in Art History and Studio Art from Princeton University, followed by a Master's Degree in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. He also completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Indonesia, so we have that in common. Working primarily in photography, Accra has exhibited in spaces such as MoMA, the Chicago Art Institute, and the Whitney Museum. I met Accra during my time at Anderson Ranch in the winter of 2018. Accra was invited to help jury the following year's round of residents for a few days, so I got to get to know Accra over dinner and late night drinks. Accra and I talk about the Wall Street protests, making websites, social justice in the arts, and the power of photography. Accra was actually the second person I ever interviewed. As I edited the audio, I found my younger self sounding awkward and tentative, although I'm not sure exactly how much has changed since then -- I do feel like a different person from the voice that is only a year and a half old, which I guess it means I am continually growing, hopefully in a good direction. In any case, here's our conversation and you can be the judge of that. Enjoy.

Photo: Ben Timpson

Links Mentioned:

• Accra Shepp
• Accra Shepp's Gallery
• Accra's Instagram
• Emmet Gowin
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Shirley Chisholm
• Reagan's Visiting a Nazi Cemetary
• Reagan Funding Central America Conflict with Weapons
• Origins of the 'mic check'
• NYPD Spy Precinct
• Accra's NYTimes Article
• Winnie Wong
• The George Gund Foundation
• Mourning [A] BLKstar’s
• Shooting Without Bullets
• Phan Thi Kim Phuc

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Hello everyone. Today I have some news to share with you followed by a very special episode. So I recently got a teaching/professorship opportunity in Zhuhai, a small city in China, to teach art. Most people don't seem to know where Zhuhai is, which is understandable as I didn't either when I first saw the job posting. But if you're curious, Zhuhai is in the middle of Macau, Hong Kong, and Shenzen, about an hour away from each city. By the time this episode is released, I will be flying over. I have about two weeks to find a place to live and figure out my syllabi once I arrive, so it will be a hectic arrival. Regarding the podcast, don't worry as I will still be releasing episodes as I have a backlog of conversations. I will be releasing these dialogues throughout the coming year as I figure out how I would like the podcast to exist within the context of China. I will keep you updated.

Anyway, for today's show, I have the pleasure of interviewing Vanessa Vu, a journalist from Zeit Online. I first heard of Vanessa through Nine Yamamoto-Masson, whom I previously interviewed and seems to be connecting me to many amazing people around Berlin. I got to say hi to Vanessa shortly after at an Asian-Germany cultural event. Vanessa is a very busy person and it took me some time to schedule an interview and I was happy that it finally happened before I left Berlin. I visited Vanessa at her office and got to use a fancy sound-booth with fancy mics. I wonder if you can hear the difference. In addition to her journalist work, Vanessa hosts the podcast, Rice and shine, that deals with Asian-German issues. I have to admit that I have not been able to listen to Vanessa's show as my German isn't good enough to follow. This privileging of the English language certainly isn't lost on me, which is touched upon in this episode. Vanessa and I also discuss her growing up in Southern Germany, cultural appropriation, and yellow-facing both in the broader context and more specifically through a recent German play with yellow-facing that won critical acclaim across Germany. I had a lot of fun talking with Vanessa and I hope you do as well, so let's get on with it.

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Hey y'all. Today I have a relatively short but special episode for you. I met up with Darrell Kinsel, also professionally known as D.S. Kinsel, at his project space, Boom Concepts. I first met Darrell just at the inception of Boom Concepts while they moved into their current space on Penn Ave, back in 2013. I approached Boom with this silly idea I had to curate a painting show with a group of conceptual and installation-based artists. Darrell was excited by my strange curatorial project and thats where our friendship began. Over the years, we saw each other's artistic career grow and I was happy to interview Darrell after all our shared experiences.

Darrell describes himself as a “black creative entrepreneur and cultural agitator" and his work focuses on themes of escapism, space keeping, urban tradition, pop culture, hip-hop, informalism and cultural appropriation. Darrell is also the co-founder of Boom Concepts, a combination work space and creative hub that offers artist studios in auxiliary locations across Pittsburgh’s unique neighborhoods. In conjunction with these activities, Darrell also works with youth, community artists, and community partners in order to identify ways for youth to express issues of social justice through drama, dance, music, visual art, and technology.

At the time of the interview, which somehow was over a full year ago in 2018, Darrell had just became a father and was a busy man. His marriage was three days away and he had a lot on his mind. Since I was leaving for Berlin at the time, Darrell was kind enough to squeeze in some time for a short interview. Darrell was taking a break with a deinstall at Boom Concepts and keeping a close eye on his daughter, Liberty. There are a few stray baby sounds and other noises in the space as a result. Hopefully they aren't too distracting. I definitely would like to chat longer with Darrell in the future. In any case, I hope you enjoy this.

Photo credit: John Altdorfer

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Hey all. In today's episode, I have a really intense conversation with the wonderful artist, Christa Joo Hyun D'Angelo. I first met Christa through Nine, who I interviewed on Episode 16. A few months after, we ran into each other as we both installed our work at an exhibition curated by a mutual friend and we remained in touch. Christa started her studies at The Maryland Institute College of Art and finished up at The Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow Poland. She moved to Berlin shortly after and has lived here ever since. Christa works in installation, sculpture, video, neon, and collage.

This interview coincides with Christa's recent solo exhibition at Galerie im Turm, titled GHOSTS, and her show runs until August 18th. As a multi-media immersive installation, Christa's show looks at the extent to which shame, stigma and isolation can be transformed into strength and self-empowerment, and expanding the complex and diverse narratives relating to HIV and AIDS activism. Christa writes that her exhibition is intended as a feminist contribution to discourses addressing toxic relationships and sexually transmitted diseases, through which women, in particular women of colour, have historically been silenced and – now as then – are rendered invisible. Our conversation meanders through these topics, although I am definitely not an expert in the subject. I hope you find our conversation to be as interesting as I did in listening to Christa tell her stories.

Also, on July 30th at 7pm, Christa will host an artist talk at the gallery with Alphonsine Bakambamba of Deutsche Aidshilfe. If you are in Berlin, by Frankfurter Tor 1, please swing by and show your support. This recording took place at Christa's beautiful flat, so you may hear some footsteps from her dog and the occasional wind chimes. Hopefully they aren't too much of a distraction. And with that, let's get on with the show.

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Hey y'all. I hope everyone is doing well. I don't have too much new news these days, although I have a whole bunch of interesting people I have lined up to interview in the coming months. Although you may not hear them until a few months later given my slow bi-weekly releases. I sometimes wonder if I should release my podcast weekly instead of bi-weekly, but I'm not sure if I can do that much work, as I'm even finding bi-weekly somewhat difficult. Sometimes I wished I had a co-host to help spread the work.

Anyway, for today, I am speaking with Christiane Dolores, a multi-disciplinary artist, writer, and musician. Her practice is driven by pursuing questions about our shared humanity as well as her personal histories as a first generation mixed-race American. Christiane also helps local Pittsburgh artists out through her work as an artist relations coordinator at the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. Lastly, Christiane is a member of the notwhite collective, a group of bi/multi-racial women artists who investigate what identity is within and without the construct and context of white---not in skin color, but as a system of oppression. I had reached out to Christiane from her involvement in the nonwhite collective and wanted to hear her speak about how the group came about. We also meandered through her early life experiences and the many detours she took that led to the collective's formation.

The release of this interview also coincides somewhat with Christiane's third solo album, The Pantry of Salt and Sugar. The album is a selection of 15 songs culled from a two-year, 500 microsong project. On July 27th, the album release party will have a live performance on a water limousine floating down Pittsburgh’s three rivers. If you happen to be in Pittsburgh and want to go, I'll link more information in the show notes. So stay cool this summer and enjoy our conversation.

Hi everyone. I hope your week is going well. I spent the past week at Art Basel in Switzerland. I got free housing with an art friend, so shout out to Felipe Castelblanco, and I got some VIP tickets from a special curator friend. Basel was stupid expensive. It simple espresso started at around 5 dollars and everything scaled up from there. Through an artist I know in Berlin, I met up with a few Singaporean collectors and hung out with them most of the time and cooked Chinese food in their apartment to avoid the overpriced Swiss food. The whole art fair was fascinating to watch as a spectacle. Felipe commented to me that the reason we artists all gone into art as kids or semi-adults no longer exists at that art fair, which was a depressing thought. I had to take a break from all the art and took a day trip to Lucerne. I took a gondola to the top of Mount Pilatus and got some really fresh air. I came back to Berlin and am soon heading off to Venice. I'm meeting up with Jose Diaz and we will be checking out the biennale while this episode is being released.

A few quick announcements before we start. I wanna give a quick shoutout to Ally Ricarte and Chelsey Dulaney. They are two new monthly Patreon subscribers. They both actually subscribed right before my previous episode and I didn't have time to include it in the intro before releasing the recording of Tsohil, so here's my belated thanks to both of them. Anyway, on to the show.

For today, I am speaking with Eugina Song. Eugina was born in London but grew up primarily in South Korea and the US. She received her BFA at Cornell University, where I first met Eugina, and she recently completed her MFA from Hunter College. I remember seeing Eugina's early paintings as an undergrad and can say her recent work has progress in a wonderfully different direction. She was visiting Pittsburgh last summer and I met up with Eugina for lunch before the interview. In our conversation, Eugina talks about dealing with preconceived notions attached to being an Asian woman, working through the different manifestations of the Chinese and Korean diaspora studying in the US, and adopting various strategies to fitting in a western society. And with that, I hope you enjoy this.

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Hi everyone. I hope your week is going well. I spent the past week at Art Basel in Switzerland. I got free housing with an art friend, so shout out to Felipe Castelblanco, and I got some VIP tickets from a special curator friend. Basel was stupid expensive. It simple espresso started at around 5 dollars and everything scaled up from there. Through an artist I know in Berlin, I met up with a few Singaporean collectors and hung out with them most of the time and cooked Chinese food in their apartment to avoid the overpriced Swiss food. The whole art fair was fascinating to watch as a spectacle. Felipe commented to me that the reason we artists all gone into art as kids or semi-adults no longer exists at that art fair, which was a depressing thought. I had to take a break from all the art and took a day trip to Lucerne. I took a gondola to the top of Mount Pilatus and got some really fresh air. I came back to Berlin and am soon heading off to Venice. I'm meeting up with Jose Diaz and we will be checking out the biennale while this episode is being released.

A few quick announcements before we start. I wanna give a quick shoutout to Ally Ricarte and Chelsey Dulaney. They are two new monthly Patreon subscribers. They both actually subscribed right before my previous episode and I didn't have time to include it in the intro before releasing the recording of Tsohil, so here's my belated thanks to both of them. Anyway, on to the show.

For today, I am speaking with Eugina Song. Eugina was born in London but grew up primarily in South Korea and the US. She received her BFA at Cornell University, where I first met Eugina, and she recently completed her MFA from Hunter College. I remember seeing Eugina's early paintings as an undergrad and can say her recent work has progress in a wonderfully different direction. She was visiting Pittsburgh last summer and I met up with Eugina for lunch before the interview. In our conversation, Eugina talks about dealing with preconceived notions attached to being an Asian woman, working through the different manifestations of the Chinese and Korean diaspora studying in the US, and adopting various strategies to fitting in a western society. And with that, I hope you enjoy this.

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Hey everyone. I hope you are enjoying the coming of summer. Everyone here in Berlin seems so much more happy biking around and drinking beers along the canal, as opposed to their usual grumpy German self. The sun has been rising earlier each day, and I keep waking up at 6am with the sun. But besides that, everything is fine and dandy. Before we move on to the show, I want give a quick shoutout to Frances Cathryn for donating to this podcast through Paypal. She's the very first one! I can't stress how much that meant. So again, thank you Frances. You can follow her on instagram @wip_projects

For today, I got to interview Tsohil Bhatia, an artist from India who is currently in his final year at Carnegie Mellon's MFA program. Tsohil and I did not fully overlap while there, but the art community is small and our circles intersected quite a bit. Through some fortuitous chance this past month, I ran into Tsohil at an opening in Berlin. We hung out a bit after and he excitedly agreed to be part of this non-white space podcast. It was great to get to learn more about Tsohil through our conversations and we talk a lot about the ghost of a body, cleaning as artwork, making ice cream, and the poetic act of doing nothing. I really enjoyed chatting with Tsohil and am looking forward to what he will do in the future. With that, I hope you enjoy this.

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Hey everyone. On this episode, I have a special interview with Tara Fay. I think Tara’s instagram profile describes her best as an independent curator, performance artist, and streetwear enthusiast. Tara is also on the board of directors at Bunker Projects, an art and residency space in Pittsburgh. I first met Tara through Jose Diaz, who I also interviewed. Throughout my time in Pittsburgh, Tara has been always supportive of my work and I was happy to talk with Tara about her perspective of the art scene.

Around the time of the interview, Tara moderated a public discussion with Dan Leer, the curator of photography at the Carnegie Museum of Art. Tara specifically wanted to talk about a controversy that happened with Deana Lawson, a photographer. Deana’s photographs at the Carnegie alienated a number of viewers and brought up difficult questions about who the museum’s perceived audience is. It began with a black woman filming a video of Deana’s work in the museum and expressing her thoughts, which spilled over onto Facebook. I’ve alluded to this incident in a few other episodes, but I go more in depth with Tara here. I wished I did a better job introducing it in the interview, but I’ve attached a Vice article about Deana Lawson at the Carnegie in the show notes. So we discuss that at length, along with a range of other topics, from the Adrian Piper show at the MoMA, performing for a white audience, different types of privilege, and Beyoncé. Also, the audio got slightly messed up towards the end of the interview, so I apologize for that. In any case, I hope you enjoy this.

Photo credit: Sarah Huny Young

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On this episode, I visited Shohei Katayama’s studio in Pittsburgh. Shohei received his B.A. in Studio Art from Bellarmine University in 2010 and is currently working towards his Master of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. His work includes line drawings, sculpture, and conceptual installation art. Shohei writes that the Great East Earthquake and subsequent Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant leak and meltdown led to a major turning point in his artistic practice. His work began to examine anthropogenic impacts on the environment, including issues related to sustainability, pollution, and natural disasters. Shohei wants his work to point us towards and insert us in a world where there is still hope—and activate a future where there are still dreams.

Although I graduated before Shohei began his MFA, our times did overlap as I stayed a year to teach in Pittsburgh. It has been wonderful to follow how Shohei has developed as an artist and I was excited to chat with him as he neared the end of his program. At the time of our interview, Shohei just got back from the Arctic Circle, which we talk about at length. More recently, that particular work Shohei created from that residency won the MTV RE:DEFINE Art Award, which came with a cash prize and solo exhibition in Dallas. I am looking forward to seeing where Shohei goes to next with his art. In any case, I hope you enjoy this.

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On this episode, I biked over to The Flower House, located in Wilkinsburg, a borough right next to Pittsburgh. The Flower House is a creative space cultivated by group-centered artists who practice cooperative economics to empower women and families. Naomi Chambers, a Pittsburgh-based painter and assemblage artist, also helps run the Flower House. I first met Naomi at a dinner for an event, but I also ran into her work at her solo show at the August Wilson Center. Kilolo Luckett, the curator of that show and someone I interviewed in episode 6, also highly recommended I talk with Naomi. I’m glad I did, since Naomi was extremely generous with her time and I also got to meet her beautiful daughter, Dodi. Naomi and I discussed how she found her way to the arts, the complexity of community engaged art projects, and the development of The Flower House. Yes, I know, there are birds chirping throughout the conversation, but I didn’t notice until after and during the editing process. Hopefully, they aren’t too distracting. In any case, I hope you enjoy this.

Photo Credit: Sarah Bader

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