Fig.1. After Newton (2012)
25-28 attendees
“Know the game, be the game, play the game, change the game !” (Halberstam 2012 Gaga Feminism p.145)
Ope Lori (b.1984) – Introduction
Lori opens by saying her work is always personal, always political and also business. She is a university lecturer and holds a Post- Doctoral Research Fellowship at Transnational Art Identity and National Research Centre UAL. “My works are purposefully thought provoking and challenging through my explicit use of stereotypes in re-representing dominant social narratives” (Lori – website)
From when she was taking her A levels she was interested in gender, stereotypes and media. In the second year of her degree she stopped painting and move onto performative/ video art after not very encouraging conversation with tutor about her painting. Does she regret that – wouldn’t change route she has travelled, but may go back to painting at a later stage.
Know the game
During her degree she worked at Tate Modern and although problematic liked the two paintings by Christian Schad (see fig.2. )
Fig.2. Self Portrait (1927) & Agnosta the Pigeon-chested Man, and Rasha, the Black Dove (1929)
Problematic because the paintings (always shown as a pair) create a conversation about hierarchy; white men, white women, disabled and black women. In this way the artist understood “the game” the importance of images and the impact they, and the conversations they can have. Images have the power to promote identity.
Out of this knowledge and her early experience of watching Snow White and feeling she had ” disavowed her own identity” because she wanted to be like Snow White, came the work ‘Who is the fairest of them all?‘ The five video screens with five women dressed as Snow White with their various complexions asking just that, ‘Who is the fairest of them all?’ . Seemed very Bruce Nauman-ish, but more influenced by artist Bill Viola (b.1951). The question the work is asking is about the preconception of what society considers to be ‘beautiful’, questioning the ‘colourism’.
Moving Image 2009 – Artist and girlfriend (at the time) again challenging the stereotypes of relationships and ‘colourism’. The stereotype that in lesbian relationships blackness equates to masculine and whiteness to feminine.
Through this the artist knew ‘whiteness’ – knowing the game.
Be the Game
Fig.3. Beauty and Privilege 2012-2013 – single image
Beauty and Privilege 2012-2013 – Invited black women to pose in what they considered to be sexy ways in front of expensive cars. The words of the car owners describing their cars were added to the black and white photographs. The words could be describing the women, a presumption the viewer is preconditioned to make? It is humorously (once you realise the mistake about what the words are about) challenges who is in a position of power.
Play the Game
A Positive Negative (1993) Sadia Lee – an inversion of Manet’s Olympia (1865)
After Newton (2012) – Helmut Newtons Untitled, a fashion shoot showing women men demonstrates role reversal. In After Newton, Lori has women looking at women both black and white, again challenging lesbian stereotypes.
Alpha & Beta (2015) -” looks at the limitations of gender and sexual difference, questioning power dynamics between constructed binary structures; male and female, black and white, masculine and feminine, nude and undressed, alpha and beta.”(Lori: Website)
Change the Game
Red Shift (2013) – two women wrestling with red light and negative words/phrases across the screen.
You can change black for white, (swapping in – Golden Girls Example) but will this result in a change in direction Need to raise consciousness to change perception. If all you do by ‘swapping in’ is change the way black women are seen to the way white women are seen, have you actually improved eithers lot? In Red Shift the colour is masked. Artist asked can we move beyond the race conversation? Lets see colour for what it is and not make things about colour that aren’t about colour.
Influence – Carrie Mae Weems (b.1953) – Coloured People (1989-99) – The artist ” employs a variety of means and addresses an array of issues, an overarching commitment to better understanding the present by closely examining history and identity is found throughout her work. A notion of universality is also present: while African-Americans are typically her primary subjects, Weems wants “people of color to stand for the human multitudes” and for her art to resonate with audiences of all races.” (Centre of Contemporary Art, Seville 2010)
I Want Me Some Brown Sugar (2013) 8x 42 inch colour HD displays – explores way ‘ way in which online pornography becomes a contradictory arena for taboo subjects on race, sexuality and gender’ (Lori : Website)
After All, Sometimes Just Changing The Point Of View Can Change The Landscape (2016) (see fig.4)- 2 Screen Video – Same people dressed in normal clothes (just turned out to be black) and white dressed as/in Priest/Mullah , Burka/hijab, Police and Hoodie. At one time being passive at one time being aggressive. The piece ‘meets contemporary society, using four stereotypical characters that in some way evoke fear in today’s social imaginary. Perceptions of colour, gender and dress are challenged in a dialogue between the same characters dressed in white and then in opposition to themselves in normal coloured attire, as a different role. Our stereotypical assumptions related to the visual are challenged through the staging of multiple oppositions around ‘difference’, asking us to question the premise of the fears we ourselves might hold in relation to the other, who at any one time, might also be the self.’ (Lori : website)
When You Are The Only One In The Room (2019) – A white woman and then a black man in a court room talking about their experience of racism, as it moves on you realise they are actually telling each others story. It is all about understanding the others point of view.
Fig.4. After All, Sometimes Just Changing The Point Of View Can Change The Landscape (2016)
Conclusion
Concluded with quote from Stefano Harney & Fred Moten ‘ Fake allied ship not wanted. Recognition that we are in this together- system doesn’t work for you and doesn’t work for other people’
We need to move from Equality to Equity to removing the barriers for everyone.
Summary
Well delivered and well structured talk around the four points in the original quote, and the artist’s and other artist’s/ writer’s work. Interesting and engaging to listen to the artist talking through her work and motivations.
Offered a complex and interesting review of the constructs of society and the impact of the image on preconceptions and how to challenge those perceptions. Her work is bold and inclusive, and difficult to fully grasp which makes the viewer want to engage and find out more.
The last piece When You Are The Only One In The Room brought the most comment after the talk. People were moved by it, and related their own experience of discrimination over colour, faith and body image.
There is a lot to digest from Lori’s talk and art, and the issues raised. Technically, in approach to subject, and in issues discussed, there is much for me to draw on over the next year of study.
Ultimately what she is saying is be true to yourself and if you cannot be then change the thing that stops you, and in doing so help other people. Remember to always consider the only one in the room and make the world more accessible and inclusive for all. That is a lot to undertake, but she has demonstrated how visual culture can contribute to that.
References
H ttps://opelori.com/
Carrie Mae Weems : Three Decades of Photography and Video. Centre of Contemporary Art 2010 Seville Spain H ttp://carriemaeweems.net/retrospective.html (Accessed 24/11/2020)
H ttps://www.billviola.com/
Illustrations
Fig.1. Lori.O (2012) After Newton At: h ttps://opelori.com/gallery/after%20newton (Accessed 24/11/2020)
Fig.2. Schad, C. (1927 & 1929) Self Portrait & Agnosta the Pigeon-chested Man, and Rasha, the Black Dove. At: h ttps://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern (Accessed 24/11/2020)
Fig.3. Lori, O. (2012-13) Beauty and Privilege – single image. At : h ttps://opelori.com/gallery/beauty%20and%20privilege (Accessed 24/11/2020)
Fig.4. Ope Lori (2016) After All, Sometimes Just Changing The Point Of View Can Change The Landscape At: h ttps://opelori.com/gallery/after%20all,%20sometimes%20%20just%20changing%20the%20point%20of%20view%20can%20transform%20the%20landscape (Accessed 24/11/2020)
Contextual Studies 