Chase Ingrande (He/Him) lives the best of both worlds. By day, he is a 28-year-old software
developer for Bravo. Whenever off work hours, he’s focused and working on his drag queen
persona, Chase Runaway (She/Her).

“Drag is a combination of all the things I love put together,” Ingrande said.

Ingrande grew up in Last Vegas Nevada, and was always a very artistic person. As a kid, his
interests included musical theater and painting, and he studied comedy writing in College.
Chase was introduced into the drag world by his first boyfriend as they performed as a duo
together. Once their relationship ended, Chase had to find his own identity and independence in
drag, and Chase Runaway was born.

“I was like okay, what does this look like to do on my own,” Chase says as he uncrosses his legs
and unclenches his coffee cup on the stoop of a random brownstone in his neighborhood.

Chase says that he is thankful that drag is not his full time job because he can rely on it as a
creative outlet rather than burning out and turning an enjoyable hobby into a job he has to do to
make a living.

“I have always thought of my drag as my art,” he said. “And if you are forced to do art it is barely art
because you are pulling it out of you rather than letting it flow out of you.”

Chase says that he feels the most vulnerable in drag because he is the art.

“I feel very much that I am using myself as the canvas,” he said. “And it is the art and the artist coming
together.”

The post A Day in the Life of a Drag Queen appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

New York is the birthplace of many trends, especially in fashion. One of these trends is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year: hip-hop.

Since Cindy and Clive Campbell’s (aka DJ Kool Herc) legendary back-to-school party in the recreation room of their apartment building in the Bronx on August 11, 1973, hip-hop has spread around the world like wildfire. It’s influenced culture and fashion like hardly any other musical genre. Probably the most visible manifestation of hip-hop in society is its influence on luxury labels and everyday street styles, famous fashionistas, and small town teenagers alike. Some significant movements are streetwear and athleisure, sneakers and logomania as well as the extra touch of bling.

The exhibition was born from an idea that FIT professor Elena Romero, who wrote a book about hip-hop fashion in 2012, pitched to the museum in 2018. She and Co-Curator Elizabeth Way began working on it in 2019. 

“We usually have a slightly shorter timeline,” Elizabeth Way said. And they used their time wisely, producing a book to accompany the exhibition. 

”This one is a very large kind of loan lender-heavy show, so we have pieces from over 50 different private and designer archives,” she said. “It was a large undertaking.”

The exhibition shows how the style evolved as hip-hop spread, influenced by regions and neighborhoods. While hip-hop in many areas is very male-dominated, to Romero and Way it was important to emphasize women’s style equally with men’s.

“We really focus on fashion and the evolution of hip-hop style,” Way said. “Both, the brands that were important to hip-hop, but also the personal style of so many in hip-hop.” 

To her, the exhibition’s aim is to celebrate all these creators. And while she hopes that the important debates about appropriation and the wrongdoings will continue, she wants people to walk away from this exhibition knowing where these styles came from.

Hip-hop is the invention of the working-class youth, predominantly people of  color, and has endured many of the same hardships that most cultural expressions of marginalized communities face from institutional racism. Hip-hop is inventive, customizing and remixing existing forms – in music and in style. Pushing boundaries in a way that has meant that even to this day it’s often perceived as “over the top” or “too much.” And still, inevitably maybe, mainstream culture began to adopt, adapt, and appropriate aspects of the influential musical genre.

Way says there has been an exceptional amount of interesting and heartfelt personal stories around the objects in their exhibition. One example she gave was that her co-curator, Romero, born the same year as hip-hop itself, 1973. Romero also grew up in Brooklyn with hip-hop and she remembers how, as a kid in the 1980s, it felt like a rite of passage to go to Delane Street and haggle for your sheepskin coat. Way said she loves those personal stories that are all about New York City. 

“All about kids on the street,” she said. She explains how the popularity of tracksuits for instance is credited to hip-hop group run-D.M.C., but it was really the neighborhood kids who popularized the style. 

While most might associate the fashion with tracksuits, sneakers and bling bling, with oversized shirts and baggy jeans – a look popularized as hip-hop made its way into the mainstream in the 1980s and 90s – hip-hop has a lot more to offer. The exhibition portrays the bandwidth, from 1970s shearling jackets to seemingly preppy brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and Timberland claimed by the movement in the early 2000s. Young, black-owned labels such as Telfar are included, a brand which has hugely grown in popularity in just the past three years. The curators wanted to bring to light Black and brown creators, whether they are designers, kids who were styling themselves, or stylists working with celebrities. Way called attention to these stories specifically to honor the culture’s origin.

After opening the exhibition with a party on Tuesday, February 9, it will run until April 23, 2023. Romero and Way will be speaking at the Queen’s public library and a symposium will be held at the Museum at FIT on February 24.

The post The Museum at FIT exhibits hip-hop fashion appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

“DeAardiens” by DeAardiens is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

NFT – a three letter acronym that you’ve probably heard on the news or read about online and wondered “what does that even mean?”

The abbreviation stands for Non-Fungible Token – which in the realm of art translates to a digitally created piece of art that is registered on blockchain – a digital ledger of transactions that is distributed across an entire network of computer systems and is difficult to change, hack or cheat.

“We’ve got those people who are really, really into it [NFTs] that have gone so far down the rabbit hole, and it’s like a way for them to connect,” said Ryan Firth, a Financial Advisor and Planner based in Texas. 

There are several different kinds of NFT ‘forms’ that can be registered on blockchain like avatars, generative art (created by artificial intelligence), collectibles (sports trading cards and NBA top shot moments), photography and music.

“Like you’ve got the NBA top shot stuff where you can buy a moment in an NFT. I think it’s a great way for people who are into shoes and collectible items like that,” Firth said. “This is kind of the next level of digital collection of things for them that is unique and can’t be copied.” 

Unlike other kinds of cryptocurrencies on blockchain, NFTs cannot be traded or exchanged. Once someone purchases an NFT, it’s registered as his or hers on blockchain, and it can’t be replicated.

Whether people love the idea or hate it, NFTs have made their mark on two polar opposite communities – art and finance.  

Technology has managed to change aspects of our society and culture on a broad scale, so it’s no surprise that it has impacted the way art is created and consumed. Traditional mediums of art are still widely used, but “new media art” has been steadily rising in popularity for years.

Snow Yunxue Fu, a New Media Artist and Assistant Arts Professor at New York University, says that the term ‘new media art’ has existed for a while. 

“It came around in the 60s and 70s on an international scale. There were many people who were utilizing whatever was the emerging medium of the time,” Fu said. “Even paint brushes and canvases and cameras were all once new emerging technologies. So, this history that artists have with whatever is the technology of their time has actually been present all along.” 

According to VFX artist Bilali Mack, the uniqueness of the NFT registration process allows artists to control their success in a way that they weren’t able to before. 

“NFTs are such a great way of leveling the playing field for people of color, for women, for any community that you can imagine that has been disenfranchised or been left out in some way,” Mack said. 

Mack isn’t the only one to notice how the rise of NFTs has helped open the door for many artists or individuals interested in art.

“I think it just made artwork more accessible to people – you know, for people who might not have access to the tools they may need to create it,” said Zead Elmehdawi, a Sales Associate and Art Consultant at West Chelsea Contemporary. “You can create these pieces of art with your laptop or phone, so the whole [NFT] process just made it easier to access art.” 

While the concept of NFTs is relatively new, as Fu said, new media art and digital art are not new concepts. Even though these art styles are not new, they are just now starting to become accepted by the community.

“For a really long time, digital artists’ artwork was not being recognized in the way that it should have been, especially in comparison to paintings and sculptures,” Fu said. “Even though it’s still a controversial topic, blockchain technology answers the question of, you know, how do we track back to the artists who are making these pieces of digital work? And how do we value the work for what it is?” 

Since blockchain technology is essentially the buying, trading and selling of NFTs online, artists have become increasingly concerned about how this will impact the art galleries that line the streets of Chelsea, Manhattan. Fu said that on a local and national level, it will depend on the type of gallery and preferences they have.

“There are some that are open and of course, there are some that say ‘this doesn’t make sense to me.’ So, in general, I would say there is a tendency for more acceptance [in art galleries] relating to NFTs,” Fu said. “I would say a lot of even the traditional galleries are accepting of it too.” 

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), one of the most famous traditional art galleries in the world, has just announced that the William S. Paley Foundation will auction off at least $70 million in art masterpieces this fall. The proceeds will all go towards expanding the digital footprint of MoMa in New York and maybe even acquiring the museum’s very first NFT.

While traditional art galleries embrace digital art in Manhattan, several NFT galleries have sprouted throughout the city – creating a new way for people to consume the new media art.

However, with the rise of any new technology medium, the question of ethics arises. The debate of whether the positives will outweigh the negatives is an ongoing discussion when it comes to NFTs.

“I’d say it’s mixed,“ Elmehdawi said. “There are some aspects of it that are really good for the art world, but I think there are other aspects that are just more for monetary purposes.” 

“I think a lot of people got into NFTs because of money at first because it was basically a gold rush,” Fu said. “Back then, it was kind of anything goes in a way, but now I think digital artists now take the time to reflect like ‘what does this mean to me?’” 

While the artistic drive may outweigh the financial drive for some, there remains a risk that digital artwork can be stolen by hackers. There also exists the potential environmental impacts of the overuse of blockchain technology. With so many benefits up in the air, how does the art community fend off the negative aspects?

“It [NFTs] needs a lot of law, it needs a lot of regulation,” Fu said “It’s very exciting that it’s opened up a lot of possibilities, but you know just like any technologies and tools, there needs to be some kind of regulation made to ensure basic human rights are protected.”

While Fu says that even though the NFT market is approaching a downswing right now, she’s still eager to see all the new media artists that emerge from this new pendulum shift in art.

“There’s this interesting energy being built around it, it kind of gives me more hope,” Fu said. “I think only by more and more people understanding what this technology is and what kind of transition we’re in will we end up in a more positive environment.” 

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“I could have never imagined this would happen,” said Tyler Glenn, the club’s bartender when the fire broke out.

 Glenn, who is 25 and uses they/them pronouns, was working their first shift at Rash, which opened last October. Glenn went to the basement for beer to stock the bar, while other staff stepped outside for a cigarette.

“I came back upstairs, and I didn’t even realize what was going on at first,” Glenn said. “It looked like the smoke machine had cranked up a million notches. It was so smokey and hot, and hard to breathe.”

According to the NYPD, no arrests have been made, and the incident is being investigated as an act of arson. 

“I started blacking out and it was really scary, and the next thing I remember is busting through the door and running over to Birdy’s, yelling ‘someone needs to call 911,’” said Glenn.

They suffered second degree burns and were treated and released from the hospital.

Tyler Glenn, a bartender at Rash, suffered second degree burns on their face and was hospitalized for two days. Photo courtesy of Tyler Glenn.

The Myrtle Avenue strip that Rash calls home is a well-known queer nightlife scene. Birdy’s, Happyfun Hideaway and Mood Ring are down the block, with larger LGBTQ friendly venues like Nowadays nearby. One patron at Birdy’s, Keaton Slansky who uses they/them pronouns, ordered drinks for the folks fleeing Rash.

“Two people were huddled outside and shaking, covered in soot,” Slansky said. 

They spoke to the bouncer, who said the Rash job was new for him as well: it was his second day at the club. The bouncer told Slansky that he didn’t recognize the perpetrator, and that he would have noticed someone walk in with a big red canister of flammable liquid. Other staff at the scene also said that they didn’t recognize the perpetrator, or see him enter the bar.

Last August, a popular queer-owned bar in nearby Bed-Stuy found a brick thrown through its front window, just after the touring bus of nonbinary political candidate Paperboy Prince parked down the street suffered the same fate. 

“People seem to be treating this as a string of incidents,” said Slansky. “Bushwick is like the queer hub of Brooklyn.There was the stabbing a few months ago, then there was this incident where someone let out a pepper spray bomb at Nowadays.”

The only customer at Rash when the fire broke out, Ashley Glenn (no relation to Tyler Glenn) had accompanied staff outside to smoke a cigarette. Seconds after she stepped outside, the bar caught fire and people started running out of the building. She described an “atmosphere of fear” in her community in the wake of this incident.

“Everybody’s freaked out,” she said. “Obviously, it’s all speculation, but it feels targeted because of premeditation and everything. It’s really depressing because after having lost Bossa, it was really great to have Rash as a new spot for the queer scene.”

The Bossa Nova Civic Club was a predecessor of Rash in queer nightlife, until it was shuttered by a kitchen fire in January. Tyler Glenn, who worked at Bossa before it closed, said they are relying on funds gathered by the Rash co-founders to stay afloat. “Until these wounds heal, I won’t be able to go into any of my other bar jobs,” they said.

 The evening’s host and DJ, Lunática, was also hospitalized with burns. The co-founders of Rash, Jake Sillen and Claire Bendiner, have launched a GoFundMe to support staff with medical bills and restore the club. In the two days since the fire, the GoFundMe has raised $41,833, from community members, allies and local businesses.

Since the fire, the bar’s instagram has posted periodic updates and boosted donation sites for staff impacted by the blaze. When the flames had gone out, the account posted a black screen, with the words “Everyone is okay,” and a heart to keep followers informed. Tyler Glenn wishes they hadn’t needed to.

“I really hate that there is this pattern in the LGBT nightlife community,” they said. “I wish people could just go out and have fun, especially when so much is going on in the world. I wish our safe spaces weren’t places of tragedy.”

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“‘You need to know who you are, and what you’re capable of,’” Hart recalled her saying. “‘You are so powerful,’ she told me. And that stuck.”

Through his photoshoots with Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, and New York Magazine, and while working with artists such as Spike Lee and Flo Milli, he’s kept those words close to him.

“It was one of the first things ever that I really feel changed my way of looking at life,” said Hart, with a smile.

Hart is a 21 year old artist, and a senior at NYU. He’s gained recognition in the past two years as a strong, blossoming photographer, so far as to receive a hand-written note from Beyonce thanking him for his work.

“She’s everything,” said Hart. “And so to be recognized by her was just amazing.”

Drip2_EricHartJr.: Drip 2 by Eric Hart Jr.

A decade before Beyonce’s shoutout, Hart got his start in Macon, Georgia, taking photographs with an iPod touch. Out of boredom, he would capture moments in the life of his cat, or just things in his yard. And it was also on that iPod that he found inspiration. In addition to enjoying clips from the show Glee, Hart also began binge watching music videos.

“That was my first introduction into like, real art,” said Hart. “Even now, on my senior thesis, I made a playlist of songs that feel like they’re images. A lot of the shots I take are what I imagine to be the music video for a certain song.”

For Hart growing up, Black representation in art usually meant Tyler Perry movies. But to him, those stories were always missing something.

“When I think about Blackness, what I’m looking for there is also that element of queerness,” said Hart. “A lot of the times when I’m taking photographs, I’m speaking to the child who wanted to see himself. The child that couldn’t find his own stride. For me, that’s self love.”

Hart has previously said that being queer is something he thoroughly enjoys. But loving himself, he says, is something he had to learn.

Eric_Hart_Jr_12: Photograph courtesy of Eric Hart Jr.

“I was taught religiously, socially, being from Southern America, in Macon, Georgia, ‘You can’t be this. You are not supposed to act this way, you are not supposed to love this way,’” said Hart. “When you get to the place where you can finally say, ‘I love this. I love this element of myself. I love this part of me,’ it really is something that inspires me to create.”

Looking at Hart’s photography, it only takes a moment to see that self-love often manifests itself as confidence in front of his camera. His models hold their heads high, often looking down the barrel of the lens, their faces stoic, powerful. This confidence is something he searches for in his subjects. 

“Once I walked out of the train, it was kind of windy,” said Olajide Adeleke, describing the summer day on which he modeled for Hart. “It blew away the sweat, whatever beads I had. But it wasn’t from being anxious, it was the heat.”

Adeleke, who would describe himself as quiet, cool, and outgoing when he needs to be, modeled for Hart’s Unravel series. Even before collaborating with him, Adeleke had been an admirer of Hart’s photography for a while.

“It’s real dramatic.” regarded Adeleke about Hart’s work. “The way he captures people, they never shy away from the reality of being seen. He’s really able to capture the essence of an individual.”

SUITGROUP+115: Photograph from Unravel by Eric Hart Jr.

Unravel, like much of Hart’s work, is centered around the study of masculinity as a form of power. It is that essence of masculinity that Hart wants to capture within queer bodies, trans bodies, and Black men.

“I think he wants to approach it as a way to reclaim Black bodies,” said Adeleke. “You can go to a museum, and see how Black bodies have been beaten and treated like nothing. But to see power in the photos that he’s taken, life in the power of Black bodies, and the power in Black bodies owning the life that they have, knowing that they’re there without having to be hurt? That’s what’s up. That’s for real.”

Adeleke remembers Hart as someone who greets people with open arms, someone who will smile warmly at you, and hear you out when you’re speaking. If you ask Hart what his happy place is, he’ll tell you it’s listening to Beyonce, or eating his grandma’s spaghetti. He, of course, has ruts of self-doubt, and dreads the idea of succumbing to being average. But, when he finds himself in those moments of despair, his solution is simple:

“I just create more,” said Hart. “When I’m creating, that’s where I feel at peace, that’s where I feel comfortable, and that’s where I get that sense of connection to what I’m doing. That’s what always brings me back to ‘This is who I am and this is what I’m capable of doing.’ And so I keep going.”

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“We’re not asking for a place on a table of things that matter,” said Nwagbogu, 49, of Norfolk, Virginia. “Black lives are the origins of all lives that matter. We created the table. We’ve set up the superstructures that inform humanity.”  

Nwagbogu thinks BLM is riding the crest of a bigger understanding of what’s going on, comparing the last several years to the end of the Cold War era and the investment opportunities to those around during that period. He refers to the shift as “the age of Aquarius,” a popular subject among the 20th century Black songwriters who prophesized the transition in their music.

 “The bigger change agent that is driving the BLM or even our own relative success is an awareness of Africanness and its impact on civilization,” he said.  

Nwagbogu believes that the near future will see a great increase in interest for everything African. His belief is held up by the rise in popularity of African products  and a drive to support Black owned businesses since the murder of George Floyd, especially among young consumers.. According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, Black buying power is projected to grow to $1.8 trillion by 2024 in the U.S. alone, outpacing White buying power. There has also been an increase in galleries  interested in showing Black artists.

 “Because of the spiritual power, the essence of African art, the West wants to buy art pieces at a very low price believing that the playing field will level out,” Nwagbogu said. “So, it is now the time to invest in all things African, whether it’s art, music, real estate, anything that has Africa in view, this is the time.”   

     Conrad Francis, 74, of Harlem, is recent proof that Nwagbogu puts his money where his mouth is. Francis found out about Nwagbogu’s company after a visit to one of the professors at Norfolk State University, where he received his Master’s in Psychology.   

“Dr. Singletary (the professor) has more African American art and artifacts in his house than any museum I’ve ever been to,” said Francis. “There are paintings, there are sculptures, masks, spears. And he developed an affinity for my work, and he bought about six pieces.”

Nwagbogu’s gallery held a show for Francis, which helped him to make his biggest sale. While his initial paintings were in the mode of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a Puerto Rican and Haitian artist from Harlem, Francis now feels more confident in concentrating on the more abstract, archetypes-inspired works.   

“My definition of African is very broad,” said Nwagbogu. “For me, to be African is not just to be born on the continent or to be of African descent. To be African is to have the spirit of creativity, true creativity, you know from the origins of creation. It’s remarkable that a lot of contemporary symbols and motifs are found in African tradition and world views.”

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“It’s just not a picture that people usually see,” said Oliver.

If you ask the 32-year-old, Atlanta-based photographer for one aspect of Black life that isn’t represented enough, he’ll quickly give you his answer: a sense of normalcy. It is this desire to capture the normalcy in everyday life that seems to keep this street photographer motivated.

Father And Daughter On Scooter. Photo Courtesy of Quintavious Oliver

“I think that Black life has been shown as something that’s extraordinary, and out of the norm,” said Oliver. “But I think that once we start to see the normalcy in everyday life as the thread that connects us all, there will be less of a conversation about why it’s important to show the differences in Black life as opposed to why it’s important to show that Black people are human beings. ”

Six hundred miles west, in Shreveport, Louisiana, 24-year-old street photographer Jamal Martin also spends his time, as he said, “documenting Black people.” Even though he knows his town is dangerous, what Martin sees in Shreveport is different. He sees Black people painting, drinking cocktails and spending time with their family. 

Young Kings At Football Camp. Photo Courtesy of Jamal Martin

“Me, with my camera, I have the power to say, ‘You’ve never seen these people before a day in your life, but they’re important,” said Martin.” And you see them now.’”

There is one thing Martin won’t photograph in his community, gun violence. It isn’t a part of his life and he doesn’t feel like it’s his story to tell.

“But even if I could, I don’t think I would,” said Martin. “We already get a bad rep for gun violence and drugs and hood stuff, so why would I show that? Why would I give somebody the opportunity to point and say, ‘Look, this is what yall are. This is what yall do.’”

Jamal Martin and Girlfriend Meagan Laboy. Photo Courtesy of Jamal Martin

So instead, Martin said he wants his focus to be on an aspect of normalcy he feels is missing, love.

“A lot of my feed is of me and her,” he said, referring to Meagan LaBoy, his best friend and girlfriend of two years. “That’s another thing that’s not represented, Black love in a positive light. A lot of people don’t get to see Black people having love that lasts and love that sticks. Whenever I share that with the world, our love speaks for itself. ” 

And when it comes to love, Oliver feels the same way, especially when it comes to photographing Black fathers with their children, riding scooters, and smiling.

“We’re often looked at as the aggressors, as animals,” said Oliver. “So, when I get to see a Black man smile, there’s a certain sense of peace and joy that’s there. That’s a love that I think a lot of people forget exists in our world.”

To Oliver, the balance of joy and pain in a work of art is crucial, but tells you less about what the artist finds important, and more about what the artist is experiencing internally. He also feels there’s nothing inherently wrong with leaning towards joy.

“Everyone knows that life is screwed up,” said Oliver. “I think that the most radical thing, the most anti thing you can do, is to be happy. That’s true rebellion right there.”

What Oliver wants his art to do, above all else, is make people feel seen.

“People need to be able to look in the mirror and love themselves, and fall in love with themselves.”

Neither Oliver nor Martin expect racism to end anytime soon. For now, they feel their duty to their community is to make sure that these moments aren’t lost to either ignorance or time.

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Scott sold the NFT “White Male for Sale” for $26,000 at Christie’s “Post-War to Present” auction on Friday afternoon.  

But “White Male for Sale” is not actually a piece of tangible art work. It’s an NFT or Non-Fungible Token, which means it’s a digital asset that represents a piece of artwork – like photographs, music, and videos – that is impossible to duplicate. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, an NFT is typically one of a kind, which can make them extremely valuable. In the first half of 2021, NFT sales surged to $2.5 billion, up from $13.7 million in the first half of 2020, according to Reuters. 

Scott saw the resurgence of the word ‘fungible’ as an opportunity to address slavery and capitalism simultainiously. 

“I knew the term fungible because a lot of my art addresses questions of the African diaspora and specifically enslavement in the United States,” said Scott. “You can see slave traders’ documents where they’re seeking to sell or buy slave number one, slave number two, slave number three. There was an effort to both turn people into commodities and also make them fungible. But people are inherently unique.” 

Scott intended for his NFT to flip American history on its head. For “White Male for Sale,” he chose as generic a business-clad white man he could find and planted him on a street corner in one of New York City’s predominantly Black neighborhoods. His NFT is a complete inversion of the open air slave markets of history, like the one that existed for 51 years here in the city at the corner of Wall and Pearl St.  

“Art can talk about the world we live in, and the best art does that,” said Scott, who referenced “Guernica”, one of Picasso’s most famous paintings, Billie Holiday’s haunting ballad “Strange Fruit,” and Toni Morrison’s classic “Beloved” as prime examples across multiple forms of artistic expression. 

“NFT’s are no different. It’s just a question of what artists choose to use them for,” said Scott. “Do they (artists)

The visual artist and activist Dread Scott, who’s NFT White Male for Sale sold on Friday for $26,000. Photo courtesy of Christie’s.

reinforce the status quo, where a tiny handful of people control the wealth and knowledge that humanity as a whole has created, or do they work to undermine and change that?” 

Earlier this year in March at Christie’s, the digital artist Beeple broke the internet when his “Everyday – The First 5,000 Days” NFT sold for $69 million, the largest NFT sale to date. Many high grossing NFT’s feature stills and scenes from the sports world, while others immortalize internet culture, like the gif of Nyan Cat that sold in February of this year for $580,000. 

Iris Nevins, co-founder of creative agency Umba Daima and one of the panelists from Thursday’s event before the auction, said her organization serves as a bridge between Black creators and opportunities in the NFT space.  

“Black artists and Black people in general can sometimes self isolate, because we feel safe and comfortable with each other,” said Nevins. “Umba Daima allows us to engage Black art and promote equity.”

The NFT market has mirrored the explosive growth of cryptocurrency throughout the pandemic. Nevins believes historical inequities won’t be absent in the cryptocurrency revolution and asserts that Black artists and investors need to capitalize on the potential playing out in real time. 

“We cannot separate ourselves from the systems that we live within,” said Nevins, noting that the wealth gap between Black and white Americans has widened throughout the pandemic. “The government isn’t going to provide reparations or mechanisms to close the wealth gap. I think a big part of how we actually do that is by creating pathways for Black communities to participate in wealth generation.” 

Scott, 56, has spent his career using different mediums to ignite conversation. He first rose to prominence in 1989 while still a student at The Art Institute of Chicago ) with his exhibit, “What is The Proper Way to Display a U.S. Flag?” 

The exhibit, in which an American Flag is neatly laid on the floor below an open notebook and poster, ignited a national controversy that drew the attention of then-president George H. W. Bush, who called it ‘disgraceful.’ 

Later that year, when Scott and other artists burned American flags at the foot of the U.S. Capitol, his activism became an integral component of United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990), the landmark Supreme Court case that invalidated the Flag Protection Act of 1989 and protected their actions under the First Amendment. 

Scott’s next project, for which he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, is called “Visions of Liberation.” He hopes to build on his resume of revolutionary artwork and continue pushing the boundaries of our national conversations. 

“Very powerful right wing and white supremacist forces are determined to wind the clock back to the 50s – 1950s or 1850s, take your choice,” said Scott. “I don’t have a crystal ball and I don’t know what side is going to win out. But I’m doing what I can with art and activism to make sure that the oppressors lose and the people win.”

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