Black Lives Matter
Cornelia Walworth
Artist statement:
Pickwick, just up the stairs from SPACE, re-opened in July under stringent guidelines that has kept us all safe. It feels so good to be part of a community of caring printmakers. This piece is a serigraph monoprint using the direct-stencil method. I printed a varied edition of six.
One Sunday while making this edition of prints, I put on some music. I listened to Sly and the Family Stone and surprisingly, it left me despondent. The music projected optimism, joy, and strength of character, yet all that felt lost in today’s caustic atmosphere. Today’s racing current of racial injustice seemed to contradict each song. I was stunned that something once so beautiful and inspiring could feel as if it was never meant to be. After Pickwick reopened, I started to make prints to reflect on the year 2020. I used printmaking-as-resistance as my template. I also took advantage of the inherent frustrations the making of prints creates for me. These frustrations mirrored my anxieties concerning our present time, but they also encouraged more in-depth discovery. I am very grateful to be back in the shop, although it is not the same as before.
Black Lives Matter, serigraph monoprint, 22.5 x 29.75, September 29, 2020.