Why Profile of a Black Woman?
By Antoine GHOST Mitchell. March 23, 2008.
It all began on August 18, 1981 when I was given to this realm from the spirit world. That is when Profile of a Black Woman was actually born. Like many Black kids, especially male, mother is a word synonymous with God. In my case, it was not only mother, but also my grandmother, aunts, sisters, cousins, and close female friends of the family who had Godly hands in rearing me into who I am today. Growing up, many more females would become mother figures to me, even those who were around my same age. To balance the strong Black female presence in my life, I did have strong father figures that no matter what they did in their personal lives, they always told me to respect ALL women; and I do.
So where did this tremendous love and dedication to Black Women come from? Well, as previously stated, it started with all the women who had a hand in rearing me. But, not very long ago in 2002 is where my love for Black Women had begun to fully develop. While growing up I wasn’t that conscious of the African part of my history. I was raised in a small country town and went to a school that only taught Black History in February. I was exposed to other cultures, which beautifully adds to my being an open minded hueman being. I was a kid who for a while tried to pursue intimate relationships with females of different races. In Louisiana, in the small Parish of East Feliciana, it would be white girls and when I was in school at the Art Institute of Houston, it was Hispanic girls. But something would always bring me back to my Black sisters, even as I pursued girls of other races. It was something about the many hues, the vocal tones, the sassiness. It was something about when looking at the faces of my Black sisters I couldn’t help but to see the women who reared and protected me. It was something about when looking at the deepest black flesh with the most pronounced features how I was taken back to the ancient lands of my African ancestors.
Thinking back, I felt this even as a child at the age of eleven but did not completely understand it until 2002 when I enrolled at Southern University of Baton Rouge. It was a class called Survey of World Art and it was taught by Robert Cox, a drawing instructor and talented artist that would become a mentor to me. I learned about many cultures that contributed heavily to the arts, but when we got on the chapter of Africa, that changed my life tremendously. When I purchased a 35 mm camera that is when my artistic love for Black Women began to develop. I would walk around campus and just take pictures of sisters. Some I would draw and others would become future pictures to hopefully one day make into a masterpiece. One of the greatest tips Mr. Cox ever told me was that a camera is one of the best tools for a representational artist and a photo album can also serve as a sketchbook. And that it did.
2004 was to be a year of awakening for me. Everyone goes through their phases and changes. Years before I was searching for some kind of identity. When I met some Rastafarian and African-centered mother figures, I stopped being what others wanted me to be and began to explore my own African roots. I began wearing cowrie shells. Before I wore braids as a fashion statement, but after I became in touch with knowledge of African culture, I began to wear them as a reflection of my ancestors. Moreover, I wore my “afro” more, which complimented many of the African clothing I had begun to acquire. Some criticized that I was trying too hard to be African. In actuality, it was my African spirit developing in my spiritual interior and exteriorly reflecting itself in my physical appearance.
This new sense of self played the most important role with my love for Black Women. It was the summer of 2004 when I opened up Assata: The Autobiography of Assata Shakur. After reading this brave, heartrending, and traumatic story of this beautiful revolutionary I saw the strength of my sisters. I began to read more about strong women such as Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, and Nana Yaa Asantewa. I saw leadership in these heroic female icons and it reflected the strength and sacrifice that I saw in the women who reared me. I was raised by my mother, who was a single parent. This is not to say that my father was absent; nonetheless, I still represented a high rate of Black children that were raised by only their mother. I learned of the sacrifices of my grandmother who had ten children and had become a single parent. I learned of how my uncles protected (and still protect) the women of our family. I learned about the women like Tubman, Truth, Asantewa, and others like Betty Shabazz, Coretta Scott King, and Rosa Parks. I realized that all of these women existed in my life in more ways than one. Drawing from the love and protection that I had received as a child by the women in my life, and from the heroism of my uncles toward their sisters, Profile of a Black Woman became a reality.
That was nearly four years ago. The year is now 2008. I have organized three Profile of a Black Woman programs thus far. Things have changed in my life since the first exhibition. Each program involved my artwork and spoken word poetry dedicated to Black Women, as well as powerful performances by many close friends of mine. Since 2004, I have graduated Southern University and have gotten married to Erica “Ayxa” Williams who has been very supportive and always was part of Profile in more ways than one. Having Erica in my life adds to the profound love that I have for my sisters. She is a representation of what my spirit yearned for and personally, when we married on May 26, 2007, that was Africa uniting.
So why Profile of a Black Woman?
Profile of a Black Woman is a one night exhibition that is organized to show the honor, love, and respect for Black women locally and throughout the Diaspora. My goal is to effect three different levels and those are:
