Our Sunday poem this week is "It's Not a Just Situation: Though We Just Can't Keep Crying About It (For the Hip Hop Nation That Brings Us Such Exciting Art)" by Nikki Giovanni. The poem is written on the wall of a gallery at the National Portrait Museum as part of the exhibition 'Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture'. An audio loop of the poem serves as the background to Shinique Smith's mixed media installation.
Says Nikki Giovanni "This is the first generation to have everything yet to also have had everything taken away. They went to school with no books, no gym, no school play, no school newspaper, no band, no clean toilets, no grass on the playground, no hope in the eyes of their teachers.
"Yet they created. They created art, music, textiles, and technology and made their world the world the world comes to."
Nikki Giovanni is a poet, activist, and educator who has been an outspoken voice within the African American community for thirty years. Her book Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry's Rhymes and Rhythms will be available next October.
The art above is "No Thief to Blame" by Shinique Smith, 2007-08, and is a mixed media installation (fabric, cardboard, carpet, paper, ink, spray paint, used clothing, found objects, and collage). You can see details of the installation here.
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