Back in August 2015,
we looked in on the official launch of Germantown photographer
Tieshka Smith’s "
Racism Is a Sickness" project. The initiative began as a photo and interview project, and has grown into a full-scale interdisciplinary and interactive installation, now open at the
Art Church of West Philadelphia through February 27.
Thanks to early interest from 8th District Councilwoman Cindy Bass’s office, Smith hoped to mount "Racism is a Sickness" at a City Hall gallery, but when autumn 2015 passed by without an opening reception date, “I had to make a decision,” she explains.
That difficult choice -- to withdraw from a City Hall exhibition -- turned out to be "a blessing in disguise," says Smith. Cara Blouin, a colleague from an earlier project at the
Painted Bride Art Center, invited "Racism Is a Sickness" to her space, the
Art Church of West Philadelphia, where the project has had the freedom to evolve and expand,
"I’m a huge Tieskha fan," says Blouin. "When I found out what she was doing I wanted to help however I could. This is a total labor of love."
The seeds of "Racism Is a Sickness" are the 14 subjects Smith photographed and interviewed in 2015. They each stand in front of an upside-down American flag, which for Smith is a symbol of national distress and institutional racism. The portrait subjects -- a mix of races and ages -- each wear a surgical mask with one word written on it, symbolizing an aspect of racism they want to protect themselves: These include “anger,” “apathy,” “fear,” “selfishness” and “suspicion.”
A placard alongside each collage offers the subjects' answers to three prompts. The first -- “Racism makes me…” -- inspires answers ranging from “squirm” to “mad” to “scared.” The second -- “Racism makes America…” -- draws responses such as “poorer,” “a failure,” “ugly,” and “profitable.”
The final prompt asks about one aspect of racism subjects wish they could eliminate or heal. Their answers include “stereotyping,” “blindness,” and “dehumanization.” The Art Church installation includes an area for viewers to add their own responses to the prompts on Post-it notes.
Other interactive pieces of the project grew out of Smith’s "#
HastagsOfHeartbreak" action for victims of police brutality, which she began online last summer to "to document and amplify all of the victims that I was aware of via social media." One wall of the Art Church display is devoted to "Death By a Thousand Cuts," a commentary on the practice of settling cases of state or police brutality out of court with payments to the victims or their families.
"We like to throw money at our social ills," explains Smith in the display. "We believe money solves problems and shuts people up, especially if the people are poor or otherwise marginalized…The cumulative effects of these acts on poor, black and brown bodies seeps into our collective consciousness and settles there."
Visitors are invited to participate in the piece by writing the name of someone they know who has been "personally affected by police brutality, police misconduct, or state-sanctioned violence" on a piece of faux money, using a Band-Aid to affix the name to an upside-down American flag.
Visitors to the exhibit are also invited to bring in prescription pill bottles with their labels removed, then to write down a positive anecdote that combats instances of racism, and put them in the bottles.
The installation's run, which Blouin and Smith hope will be the first of many for the project, features a
wide range of events including discussions, performances and film screenings.
"Racism is a Sickness" runs through Februaru 27 at the Art Church of West Philadelphia (5219 Webster Street).
Writer: Alaina Mabaso
Sources: Tieshka Smith and Cara Blouin, Racism Is a Sickness