No. You Can't Touch My Hair.

On September 15, 2016 the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had this to say about dreadlocks (a black hair style): “We recognize that the distinction between immutable and mutable characteristics of race can sometimes be a fine (and difficult) one, but it is a line that courts have drawn ... [and] There have been some calls for courts to interpret Title VII more expansively by eliminating the biological conception of ‘race’ and encompassing cultural characteristics associated with race,” but that he wasn’t prepared to lead that inquiry regarding discrimination." ~U.S. Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan, Huffington Post

Jordan shrinked back from stetting precedent in that case, but I can tell you that legal fictions have no bearing on reality.

My hair grows from my head and is not separate from me--I am a whole person. There is no either-or representation. My hair is not a "mutable" medium. A wig is not one's hair. That is a medium. My hair is part of me--just like my eyes, skin and lips. How I style my hair has everything to do with the nature of my hair and my Afro-Latina culture.

Channel 4 News, South Africa

The politics of skin and hair are fundamental to racism and white supremacy. This effects how black persons move through this world. It is the reason the issue of black hair reached the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This court, instead of setting precedent, followed numerous other courts that handed down negative rulings which limit the life prospects of black persons whose hair does not conform to white culture.

Solange, 'Don't Touch My Hair'

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Disposable Lives

On Saturday, September 24 I delivered a public address entitled 'Disposable Lives' through which I reached out to audience members relating the traumatic effect of police killings on individuals and communities of color. I asked attendees, "how safe is a society where large populations of people live in fear of "public safety" authorities?"

Z. Hall, 'Epidemic': fiber, acrylic, ink, 2016

Between January 2014 and July 2016, 2,996 unarmed black people were shot and killed by police in America. Twelve names in ‘Epidemic’ represent 12 months in each year. The distressed fabric and stitching symbolizes oppression experienced at the hand of the state. The frayed threads express the lives and families torn apart and communities of survivors in anguish. Black dots are symbolic of bullets shattering lives. Their names rise above the sea of blue that should protect and serve. We say their names.

'Common Threads: Anatomy of the Wound' curated by Sonie Joi Ruffin and Arzie Umali, is on exhibition at Leedy-Voulkos Art Center, KCMO; August 2, 2016 – October 29, 2016. 

The Murder of Alfred Olango

“He did not do anything; he had no gun; he was not mental,” explained Pamela Benge, the mother of Alfred Olango ... My son is a good, loving young man
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She said the police shooting of her son has forced her to feel pain similar to what she felt in the midst of war
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[As refugees from Uganda, she] came to America with her children seeking safety and a better life for them. Coming from a place of war, she said she did not expect this ending for her son." ~NBC San Diego

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Female Nude and the Male Artist

 

Nzekwe Phillips Lexie Okai; clay and fiberglass on wood which is evolved using traditional Benin methods.

This is an absolutely gorgeous piece!*

The unclothed human form, male and female, is beautiful. I am comfortable with it as an art form, in many instances enjoy the works. I'm not even bothered too much by the ones that border on porn, except when the artist tries to pretend it is high art rather than a titillation piece. In those cases, artistic dishonesty is a turn-off more than the artwork itself.

Personally, I don't question expression of the body and actually believe that the unclothed form is more natural than covered, just as pre-colonial societies demonstrate.

That said, we live in different times. And as much as I respect the nude form, I am, many times, torn between appreciating a particular artist's nude female work and struggling with his entrenched, patriarchal stance as expressed by the artist. When engaging the work of male artists that are new to me the question is in the back of my mind: "Sure, he states how much he appreciates the nude female form, but who is he really?"

How does the artist's patriarchy inform his work and selection of subject matter? At the foundation of patriarchy is objectification and silencing of females.

To me the question is: Can a patriarchal male inhabit another dimension in his work with the female nude such that she, in that instance alone (no other areas of his life), becomes a full human equal to him in intelligence, maturity, creativity, sexual choice, and spirituality?

The male artist-female nude is a complex domain.

*NOTE: This discussion of patriarchy and art has no reference to artist Nzekwe Phillips Lexie Okai or his masterful art. The image of his piece is shared solely because it is exquisite and exhibits tasteful representation of the nude female form.
  

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Vulva Art

The sacred orifice.

It only makes sense that God created woman first. 

If you believe in the miracle of Jesus' birth (and she will bring forth a son, Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:31), why can't you accept the creation of woman and her miracle birth of the first man. 

It makes much more sense than some first abdominal surgery story! I mean, with that story we're talking anesthesia, ICU, pain meds, months of recovery, post-surgery abnormalities, etc., etc.

Woman created first: Miracle conception and we're good to go! 

Every pattern in the universe is efficient. Every single one.  Creating man first would have been inefficient. Period!

There is no other instance in the Bible of miraculous surgery. However, Eve giving birth to Adam would set precedent for Mary's miraculous conception of Jesus. 

 If you are on Facebook you can read my original 'Vulva Art' post dated September 27, 2016.

Listen to my appearance on 10/22/2016 radio program Every Woman.

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Redemption

You know, I believe many of us are in a great deal of pain. Not for the same reasons or stemming from the same causes, to be sure. But the connections among us means we affect each others' vibration. The soul-level groaning evident in our disparate frustrations, impatience with each other, judgment of those we hardly know, insistence that "they" are the problem, the inability and unwillingness to dialogue together on a solution speaks to a restlessness.

These observations may seem a negative outlook, but I see these symptoms as a sign of humanity's intuitive move toward redemption.

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