Swift Transitions

In Loving Memory Of Loving Memory.

420 Tompkins Avenue, Brooklyn NY.
First image, 2014.
Second image, Google Maps, 2020.

Lessons.

Gordon taught me you can do anything you want with pictures. 


Robert taught me they dont have to be perfect. 


Roy taught me there is beauty in the shadows. 


Lorna taught me you can do anything period. 

A Remembrance Of Thought: For Walter Scott

"There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay. There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down brothers on the instant replay"

Gil Scott Heron released those lyrics 49 years ago, in the 1971 song "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. The song expressed his hopes and dreams of the U.S. after this non televised revolution, as well as his complaints of the current situation. 20 years ago now, by way of social commentary, Dave Chappelle in his 2000 comedy special "Killin Them Softly" joked that he did not hate police, but he was just scared of them. Fast forward to April of 2015, and a video is released of a South Carolina police officer shooting unarmed Walter Scott in the back. As Mr. Scott was moving away. In moments like this, I don't know whether to praise the genius of these artists such as Gil Scott Heron and Dave Chappelle for creating timeless work, or curse the fact that the situations they described are still so accurate, all these years later.

In a country built on the foundation of capitalism and the idea of constant growth, expansion, and betterment, it can seem incongruous to realize that not everything has progressed much farther for the better. Technology allows us to talk to anyone and send money anywhere from a computer that fits in your pocket. It is people who decide to use that technology to raise money for an officer who killed an unarmed black man while in the line of duty.

In the line of duty. For police officers, the line of duty is alleged to demarcate how they protect and serve Us. Members of society. However, that line of duty seems to have been drawn to exclude Black Men. Black Women. Black People. And when this system and these officers are accused of failing to protect all those within this line, one of the first things done is an attempt to separate the victim from the protected class. Namely, as a member of society. Suddenly, victims prior mugshots appear. Information is released that the victim has a violent history. He once got in a fight outside a McDonalds. He once pushed a kid in high school. He once didn't hold the door open for that sweet old lady.

Do you know how this happens? Do you know how an unarmed man, running away from a threat, gets shot 8 times in the back? Do you know how he is told to place his hands behind his back as he lays facedown, taking his last breath? It happens because he is colored outside of the lines. It happens because at some point in that officers mind, Walter Scott wasn't Walter Scott anymore. It happens because in the killer’s mind, Walter Scott was not a person, but a problem made manifest. And more than likely, Walter Scott ceased being Walter Scott in that officer's mind long before their first encounter. And when Walter Scott is no longer a man named Walter Scott, there is no duty. You don't protect and serve a problem made manifest, you just solve it.

So I'm sorry Gil Scott, but there's still pictures of brothers being shot down on the instant replay, and everything is still televised. We can only hope that the videos will make these statements no longer so relevant.

*Originally written in 2015.

Made Manifest

Brian Fraser for #mademanifest

On Black Art:

”Black art is reality, our reality. For me, there are things that people do from a technical perspective but there are also spirits and feelings and soul and things we feel in our every day lives That comes through these mediums. For me, black art means this is our reality, and this is our depiction of that reality in whatever form.”


On Creation:

“I create because I want to capture that reality. I want to capture my reality as it stands. I think its always been [about] sharing my vision, but I create because of the connection that I get when I am creating, with whatever those are. Whether its the people, whether its other things that beyond my control, there’s a deeper connection of what it means [to create]. What it means to create is something I have battled with with versus consumption. We consume all the time and for me that creation does make me feel like there is some kind of purpose out there. I create because of that feeling of being purposeful in life. Of giving back to all the things I am consuming. For me, creating those realities, creating those visions do make me feel whole. I feel like im giving something back. Something to whatever is going on here,  creating makes me feel that. ”

She & Us

New beginnings mean the end of old things.

Dakar, 2017