Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

On Josephine Baker and the Politics of Educating Americans

1/23/2023

"Josephine Baker and Chiquita Abstract Magenta" digital painting by Aberjhani. Now available for purchase at Pixels.com, Fine Art America, and here at Bright Skylark Literary Productions.

The article on Josephine Baker (1906-1975) for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance was written by Sandra L. West (1947-2019). Until working on the book project with her, my perception of the great diva had been shaped primarily by quick glimpses of classic black and white images of her dancing either nude or semi-nude.
She was to me a pretty, comical, innately sensuous, island girl with some vague connection to the United States and France. Research revealed and corrected the many layers of a misunderstood truth.

I began this post to draw attention to the above Josephine Baker tribute art series. Just as I was completing it, disturbing news arrived: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s Department of Education had rejected an Advanced Placement course addressing different aspects of African-American Studies. The rationale for doing so was that it paved the way for ideological indoctrination into the “Woke movement” as fueled by Critical Race Theory. That is something DeSantis has strongly opposed and stated the proposed AP African-American Studies course lacks educational value.

Dr. Lisa Hill, one of the authors of the program, said at its launch in September last year: “The course encourages students to examine each theme from a variety of perspectives, without ideology, in line with the field’s tradition of debates.” In short, the objective is to expand access to the kind of knowledge which impacts our understanding, or misunderstanding, of the demographically evolving world in which we live. It was the same goal that I and different contributors to Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance had when completing it.

Perceptions and Realities

The intensity of DeSantis’ objection to progressive initiatives when it comes to racial factors have long puzzled many People of Color. Perception of the governor’s political strategy is not very different from how Justice Clarence Thomas’s unyielding conservatism is viewed among many Blacks. While it appears to make no sense within the context of their daily social reality, it stands up well enough as abstract legal conception.

A frequent assumption regarding DeSantis is that he is Latino and his interests should, therefore, automatically align with those he decries as woke ideologists. However, despite the smiling photograph of him on Hispanic culture pages, the governor’s publicized heritage is Italian––not Latinx––going back several generations. He clearly has found it more politically advantageous to let Americans assume whatever pleases them while presenting himself, more than anything else, simply as a committed conservative republican.

It would be fair enough at this point to ask what any of this has to do with my current celebration of Josephine Baker. The answer is pretty much: everything. Were it not for the social, political, and financial inequities and omissions which daily impair the lives of people belonging to different demographic groups in America, there would be no need for certain types of corrective considerations. As it is, levels of awareness concerning different cultural experiences directly influences the quality of all Americans’ lives.

Detail from "Josephine Baker Stardust Silhouette" art by Aberjhani. Now available for purchase here on Bright Skylark Literary Productions, on Pixels.com, and at Fine Art America.

What I knew and did not know about Josephine Baker’s story prior to studying it in depth for Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance had caused me to consider her in much less regard than I should have. But it wasn’t the victorious Baker and other Harlem Renaissance greats who had lost out to all those years of unknowing. It was me and other misinformed individuals like me.

From New Art Series Product Page:

"Cheers went up around the world in 2021 when French officials announced American-born actress, singer, and World War II spy Josephine Baker would become the first Black woman to be inducted into the Parisian Panthéon. The announcement made me smile because Josephine Baker is one the historic figures celebrated in Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (this year 2023 is the 20th anniversary of the encyclopedia’s publication).

"The new 2023 edition prints of Baker featured in this series are mixed media and digitally textured interpretations of classic historical photographs and posters categorized as public domain. Some of the new prints are abstract expressionism, or surrealistic impressionism, and others enhanced antique sepia. Baker is widely celebrated during Women’s History Month, Black History Month, and in general as an iconic international entertainer. I sometimes think of her as America’s loss (due to the extreme Jim Crow racism practiced in the United States during her lifetime) and France’s gain."

Aberjhani
Creator of the Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle
Co-creator of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance

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Art and Words Make an Exceptional Kind of History

8/22/2022

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(Official Postered Chromatic Poetics for Aberjhani’s Bright Skylark Literary Productions ©2022 with copy of 2022 Flannery O’Connor Review ant detail from “Closer to Where You Are.” Art on cover of FLOCR titled “Sermon in the Valley of Broken Angels” by Aberjhani.)

Regular readers of this blog may recall I previously stated my non-fiction book, Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind, was only one part of a planned trilogy of creative works to address the layered complexities which make up the corpus of O’Connor’s celebrated writings. Major second and third parts of the trilogy, in the form of visual art and poetry, have just been published in the 2022 Flannery O’Connor Review (FLOCR, Vol. 20).

The review, edited by Marshall Bruce Gentry, is published by Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia (USA), where O’Connor lived and wrote most of her adult life. This new volume represents a double milestone for the publication which, as seen on the front cover, commemorates 20th and 50th anniversaries.

To purchase the 2022 review please click here.

The event is a particularly significant one for me not only because it delivers on the pledge to produce an unusual form of commentary on an iconic author’s writings and cultural influence. It also marks the first time my visual art has been on the cover of a major academic journal and a substantial selection of my images featured inside the publication. In addition, my poem History and Prophets’ Prerogatives, which until now has only been available in very limited broadside and art poster editions, has made its international debut in the same pages.

Story behind the Artwork

Combining visual art with literary expression has long been one of my favorite strategies for communicating different important, and sometimes controversial, concepts. Whether dealing with environmental justice, online privacy issues, critical race theory, or anything else, the approach has often yielded positive results. Although I’ve utilized it effectively enough in several of my own books––most notably ELEMENTAL, the Power of Illuminated Love and Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah--the thought I might be able to do so in an educational journal such as FLOCR never crossed my mind.

It likely would not have occurred if I hadn’t accepted an invitation from editor Gentry to attend the Flannery O’Connor and Families Symposium while the COVID-19 pandemic was still going strong in June 2021. Attendance at the symposium, as it turned out, inspired several of the images included in the current review. Others were works in progress which I intended to either add to O’Connor-themed art already completed, or reserve for a future exhibit.

At this point, the art in the journal is not accessible for viewing anywhere else but plans are underway to make one or two of the images available as prints and in other formats in my online art store. (Anyone wishing to let me know which artwork they might like to see become available for purchase as a print is invited to contact me via the form at the end of this article.)

In Good Literary Company

In addition to my own contributions, the 2022 FLOCR includes important discussions by diverse scholars addressing various aspects O’Connor’s work and legacy. Among them are the following:

“Intention, Piety, and Mode in Flannery O’Connor” by Clarke Owens
“‘Deep in the Stacks’: An Interview with Nancy Davis Bray” by Nancy Davis Bray and Megan Savage
“Nuns at Luncheon in a Hayloft: O’Connor’s Debt to Aldous Huxley in ‘Good Country People’” by Bryan Abel Ragen
“Justifying Excessive Virtue: Daredevil Charity and Crime Noir in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘The Comforts of Home’” by Nathan M. Kilpatrick
“Jacques Maritain and Flannery O’Connor: The Life and Death of a Child” by Fernanda Rossini
“Wondering and Wandering: An Interview with Louise Florencourt on Her Life and Her Family” by Louise Florencourt and Robert Donahoo
“Review of Justin Mellette’s Peculiar Whiteness: Racial Anxiety and Poor Whites in Southern Literature, 1900-1965” by Laura L. Behling
“Review of Sandra E. Godwin and Helen Matthew Lewis’s A White Liberal College President in the Jim Crow South: Guy Herbert Wells and the YWCA at Georgia
State College for Women, 1934-1953” by Virginia Wray
“Review of Ann McCutchan’s The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Author of The Yearling” by Marshall Bruce Gentry.

The annual publication of the Flannery O’Connor Review is a major literary event to which general O’Connor readers and academic instructors look forward every year. Its articles and book reviews are important influences on dialogues concerning the author’s noted value in educational and religious institutions around the world. They also go a long way toward interpretations of her expressed attitudes, often described as ambiguous or ambivalent, toward African Americans. Such studied reflections have become increasingly important as Americans continue to evaluate past cultural trends and practices while navigating major changes in their country’s demographic composition.

By Aberjhani

For more on Flannery O’Connor please check out the following:

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Reclaiming the Magic of Poetry in a 2021 Time Such as This

4/17/2021

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With April 2021 being the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Month, it is also the perfect time to share a shortened re-post of the article ‘Tis the Season for the Magic of Poetry Part 2: Angels and Poets. It was first published in 2014 as part of a series for my AXS National African-American Cultural Arts column.

When considering the recent shooting deaths of 13-year-old Adam Toledo and 20-year-old Daunte Wright, as well as mass shooting in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Atlanta, Georgia, poetry might seem to lack any real kind of serious significance in 2021. But as pointed out in the original first part of this series: One important reason poetry matters is because it often helps to expand humanity’s capacity for putting brutal and sublime experiences alike into usable, meaningful, contexts.

A Significant Utilitarian Role

The publication of an anthology such as Black Gold (compiled and edited by the late Ja A. Jahannes) is always an important event for a number of reasons. For one, it contributes to the preservation of a powerful literary tradition which has served to document the diverse poetic voices of different eras. Another is because it helps secure a niche market known to make traditional publishers somewhat nervous from a business perspective when it comes to investing in that same market. However, this being the digitalized information age, new traditions have formed in which established poetry organizations such as the Academy of American Poets will email subscribers poems on a daily basis.

In addition, online publications like Poetry Life and Times, edited by Robin Ouzman Hislop, publish contemporary poets on a fairly regular weekly to biweekly basis. Moreover, its sister digital venue Poetry Lifetimes, edited by Sara Russell, delivers poetry titles and headlines on a daily basis via the popular Paper.li content aggregation platform. Each of these, and others like them, demonstrates the significant cultural and utilitarian role that poetry continues to play in the lives of numerous individuals, organizations, and communities.

Angels and Poets

The book The River of Winged Dreams has gained some popularity since its publication in 2010 partly because more than half a dozen of the poems take their themes, and sometimes titles, from different holidays and other special occasions. The following, however, is presented at this time for its evocation of grace and compassion, two of humanity’s better qualities which even those who are fairly humbug on the holidays can appreciate when extended to them:

The Poet-Angels Who Came to Dinner
(from The River of Winged Dreams)

1.
Neither had been invited but both were welcomed.
They spoke through wordless intuition, cool nods of
“Peace-Be-Still,” and, “As-Goes-Love-So-Goes-Life.”
Their quiet burned my brain with inklings of wonders
to come––as I set my table with what I had:
half of a cheese sandwich left over from a lucky day.

2.
From the eyes of one, my meager offering drew
liquid letters and symbols that splashed into goblets
until they overflowed with flavors of wine.
The second stranger laughed. As he howled, their
sorrow and their joy set my table anew—laid it heavy
with glazed yams, marinated dreams, and aromatic breads.

3.
Then their wings spread and revealed feathers painted
with the names and words of poets known and unknown.
Echoes of vows and prayers exploded blinding songs of light.
By the time I could see again, my guests had gone.
I stared at the bountiful table they left, too stuffed
with awe, to feast on the generosity of their grace.

4.
A knock at the door made me think they’d returned.
It was instead an old grandfather, homeless, with three
children whose parents had been lost to war and disregard.

They had not been invited but all were welcomed.
I nodded through tears of wordless intuition:
“Peace-Be-Still,” and, “As-Goes-Love-So-Goes-Life.”

Also Check Out for National Poetry Month 2021:
‘Talks Between My Pen & Muse’ An Inspired Literary Debut from Poet Aurie Cole
Where to Find Poetry Fine Art Poster

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

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A Hidden American Treasure Comes to Revelatory Light (part 1 of 3): Geography & History

9/9/2019

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Title-art graphic featuring artist Suzanne Jackson in conversation on stage at the Telfair Museums' Jepson Center for the Arts. (Art graphic by Aberjhani)

Anyone on June 27, 2019, attending the opening of the Suzanne Jackson Five Decades retrospective at the Telfair Museums' Jepson Center for the Arts in Savannah, Georgia (USA), or involved in its production prior to that historic evening, could tell something exceptional was happening. In addition to the mesmerizing kind of vibrant textiles and stunning canvases one might expect to discover at such an opening for a contemporary artist, there were seven vitrines (display cases) filled with family photographs, vintage 1960s flyers advertising a "Revolutionary Art Exhibit," sketchbooks, program notes, letters, photographs, and other revealing archival materials from different chapters of Jackson's, and America's, life stories.

The items made available went beyond career highlights to illuminating an artist's considerable immersion in a significant historical moment: the 1960s-1970s Black Arts Movement as it rooted and flowered in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. For those observers of African-American history who contend America's West Coast contributed much less to the Harlem Renaissance than other regions because it lacked, during the 1920s-1940s, a heavy representation of the traditions and institutions then associated with Black culture in the South, the 1960s may be considered the bridge which connected history and geography.

Ideas of how and why that might be the case, within the context of Five Decades, first struck me as apparent while listening to the on-stage conversation between Jackson, fellow artist Alonzo Davis, and Telfair Museums curator Rachel Reese. Jackson's and Davis's stories of establishing art galleries in downtown Los Angeles, building a sustainable cultural arts community, and balancing commitments to careers and political struggle with commitments to family life were not completely unlike what we find in the life stories of East Coast predecessors like Lois Mailou Jones and Augusta Fells Savage.

This observation does not contradict the contexts of ecowomanism and black feminist ethics contexts in which the brilliant essays by Reese, julia elizabeth neal, Melanee C. Harvey, and Tiffany E. Barber place Jackson's work in the forthcoming Five Decades catalog. It simply acknowledges one more powerful aspect of the place she now occupies as an influential contemporary artist of historical importance. In her foreword to the catalog, artist Betye Saar alludes to the significance of Jackson's role as someone whose art and advocacy have bridged gaps:

"In the 1960s, black artists in Los Angeles were struggling to be recognized. Some public venues had integrated exhibitions, but generally speaking black artists were ignored... Suzanne made a concrete imprint when she opened Gallery 32 on Lafayette Park Place..." (Appropriately enough, work by the 93-year-old Saar herself is currently undergoing a kind of revival with forthcoming solo shows at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.)

After Jackson's, Davis's, and Reese's dynamic conversation, the feeling when walking among the dozens of artworks hung with dazzling appeal in the Steward North and Kane Galleries, absorbing the full impact of the actual exhibit, was like glimpsing a long-hidden priceless American treasure. Those who have yet to treat themselves to the experience still have until October 13, 2019, to do so at the Jepson. Just as importantly, the exhibition catalog is due out September 25 and orders for it are being accepted now.

Continental Crossings & Fortuitous Connections

Artist Suzanne Jackson (right) speaking with librarian Mark Darby (left) at historic 2004 "Harlem Renaissance in Savannah" book signing and lecture presented by Aberjhani (center) at the Carnegie Branch Library in Savannah, Georgia (USA). (Photograph Bright Skylark Literary Productions Collection)

My journey toward the almost magical evening of June 27 actually began on August 28, 2004, when Ms. Jackson attended my "Harlem Renaissance in Savannah" lecture and book signing at the Carnegie Branch Library in Savannah. Since relocating to the city eight years earlier, she had been surprised to discover the African-American cultural arts scene was as vibrant as it was and included someone who had co-authored (with the late Sandra L. West) the groundbreaking Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance.

I was surprised and impressed to learn she had lived on the West Coast--just as I had in San Francisco--and now taught at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD). If I'd had the slightest prophetic clue of the visual marvels that would be revealed 15 years later, I would have been flat-out amazed.

Mounted wall screen showing video images from life and career of artist and educator Suzanne Jackson. The video was part of the opening for Jackson's Five Decades Retrospective at the Telfair Museums Jepson Center for the Art in Savannah, Georgia, on June 27, 2019. (Bright Skylark Literary Productions photograph by Aberjhani ©2019)

That early meeting was genuinely fortuitous because in those days my responsibilities as a caregiver had already started to limit participation in public events. I nevertheless did make it out occasionally and during the years which followed the lecture our paths crossed enough for an acquaintance to become a friendship. As it turned out, we had more than the cultural arts and California in common. We had both also spent time in Fairbanks, Alaska--she as a child growing up there and me some years later as a U.S. military journalist.

We came to know many of the same creatives and shared enthusiasm over their triumphs. Grief, too, demanded acknowledgement when experiencing the loss of such individuals as painter Allen M. Fireall (1954-2014), his fellow artist and friend Luther E. Vann (1937-2016), and author-educator Ja A. Jahannes (1942-2015). More personal, more blood-connected losses inserted themselves into the stories of our individual lives as well, both stalling and fueling painted poems and poemized visions that would manifest in coming years.

NEXT: A Hidden American Treasure Comes to Revelatory Light (part 2): Jazz, Art, & Partying

Aberjhani
author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
and Songs from the Black Skylark zPed Music Player

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How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 2 of 2)

8/2/2019

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"Tears of the Children of the Sun" artwork by Aberjhani C2019.

Some of the publications at Issuu, like CONNECT Savannah, are simply digital editions of magazines for which I've written feature stories or poetry. Others employing my writings are new to me. What probably amazes me more than anything else is the scope of their ideological --from politics and social justice issues to spirituality and the creative arts--application of the works.

More often than not, their assessments of certain situations align with mine. Although we have not formally partnered to include my voice in various photo spreads, feature articles, or special sections, the sense of balanced perspectives sometimes creates the feeling we have.

Podcast Prospects 501. Exploring the treasured catalog of articles, fiction, memoir, nonfiction stories, essays, poetryt & art by Author-Poet Aberjhani for adaptation to podcasts & film.

It has been just as revealing to learn how much international territory the different publications cover as it has been to check out their aesthetic strategies. For example, both the Daily Times (April 2019) in Lagos, Nigeria, and African-American News & Issues (March 2019) have based themes of entire editorials on concepts expressed in a single quote which serves as the lead statement or primary point of discussion. One addresses political freedoms and responsibilities in a democratic society while the other focuses more specifically on the Black Lives Matter movement.

The AssiégéEs Citadel des Resistance (June 2015), based in France, employed my Guerrilla Decontextualization philosophy to enhance a penetrating (some might say crushing) ideological critique. Going in a completely different direction, popular writings from different books were also presented in publications like One Curvy Boutique (Feb 2018) in Florida, USA, with images celebrating healthy self-esteem in women:

Famous "Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends" haiku from The River of Winged Dreams setting the stage for One Curvy Boutique.]

The September 11 edition of OPUS 2016 features a well-known maxim from ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love, alongside the photographic artistry (referred to as "Burtography") of Brazil's (by way of New York) Burt Sun. Mr. Sun's incorporation of the text is particularly intriguing due to the fine art photographer's skillful juxtaposition of nude figure with apocalyptic environments. His work forces us to challenge definitions of obscenity and question the honesty of declaring the nude human form as indecent while granting license for the destruction of communities in the name of political, military, or monetary gain. In short, his images provoke the kind of reflections I generally hope my pen does.

This fine art photograph by Burt Sun, as indicated by the text on the left side, is titled Syrian Kitchen. The quote beneath the title, "This world’s anguish is no different from the love we insist on holding back," is from the poem "The Homeless, Psalm 85:10," published in ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love.

These observations might strike some as stretching small events to make big statements. They are in fact much more than that. It means, and suggests, a great deal when an editor of Pakistan Today (June 2019) in Karachi, Pakistan, the fifth largest city in the world (est. population 14.91 million), employs an author's literary voice to launch a powerful examination of “The Politics of Megalomania.”

There are, however, certain kinds of enchantment which may rightfully be described as small because they likely mean more to me than anyone else. Such an instance occurred upon discovering the popular quotation, 'Hearts rebuilt from hope resurrect dreams killed by hate,' had been published in Revista Medalhão Persa (January 2019) as part of a somewhat lyrical celebration of the city of Tabriz. Fans of the poetry of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi will forever recognize Tabriz as a place associated with Rumi's great spiritual companion: Shams. But according to the publication, Tabriz "for some scholars was also the site of no less than the Garden of Eden.”

Familiar Touchstones of Cultural Awareness

The simple point of all this is not only to further highlight for podcast and film producers the advantages of adapting for their platforms materials from the Bright Skylark Literary Productions catalog. It is to confirm the demonstrated appeal of a catalog of contemporary works to populations across the globe.

Quote from Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: "The literary artist lends verbal depth to the visual. The visual artist provides visible articulation for the literary." Presented in Nigeria's New Telegraph.

While I welcome the prospects of adaptation different works to podcasts and/or film, one of my primary goals as a writer has always been to help foster dialogues which strengthen humanity's capacity for world-sustaining co-existence. Years of producing unique literary compositions which evolved into familiar touchstones of cultural awareness have created an exciting momentum from which many can benefit. That would be a good thing to keep going as we approach the final quarter of 2019 and prepare to accomplish a potentially much stronger surge forward in the year 2020.

If you missed part 1 of this post please check it out by clicking right here. Below is the promised image gallery of some of the publications at Issuu featuring my work.

Aberjhani
Harlem Renaissance Centennial

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<<Previous

On Josephine Baker and the Politics of Educating Americans

Perceptions and Realities

From New Art Series Product Page:

Aberjhani
Creator of the Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle
Co-creator of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance

Contact Author-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Art and Words Make an Exceptional Kind of History

Story behind the Artwork

In Good Literary Company

Contact Artist-Author Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Reclaiming the Magic of Poetry in a 2021 Time Such as This

A Significant Utilitarian Role

Angels and Poets

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact the Author

A Hidden American Treasure Comes to Revelatory Light (part 1 of 3): Geography & History

Continental Crossings & Fortuitous Connections

Contact the Author

How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 2 of 2)

Familiar Touchstones of Cultural Awareness

Contact the Autor

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

On Josephine Baker and the Politics of Educating Americans

Perceptions and Realities

From New Art Series Product Page:

AberjhaniCreator of the Original Silk-Featherbrush ArtstyleCo-creator of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance

Contact Author-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Art and Words Make an Exceptional Kind of History

​Story behind the Artwork

​In Good Literary Company

Contact Artist-Author Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Reclaiming the Magic of Poetry in a 2021 Time Such as This

​A Significant Utilitarian Role

Angels and Poets

AberjhaniCo-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem RenaissanceAuthor of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My MindCreator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact the Author

A Hidden American Treasure Comes to Revelatory Light (part 1 of 3): Geography & History

Continental Crossings & Fortuitous Connections

Contact the Author

How 2019 Turned into a Big Year for Literary Productions (part 2 of 2)

Familiar Touchstones of Cultural Awareness

Contact the Autor

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Aberjhani
Creator of the Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle
Co-creator of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance

Story behind the Artwork

In Good Literary Company

A Significant Utilitarian Role

Aberjhani
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance
Author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle