In the fall of 2021, the artist Xaviera Simmons, who is a friend, called me to invite me to collaborate on an article about race as part of a magazine issue she was guest editing in conjunction with Art Basel Miami. After some discussion on how to approach the topic, we centered on the subject of Whiteness. Our rationale was that whenever the uncomfortable subject of race is addressed in the art world the burden of the conversation inevitably falls to POC artists. We instead approached White male artists to discuss how race figures in their thinking. We included artists who identify as White such as Matthew Day Jackson and William Powhida, as well as artists who present as White but come from a complex ethnic background such as Michael Rakowitz, who has an Iraqi-Jewish ancestry, and Ishmael Randall Weeks, who is, like me, a Latino white male artist.
such a complex issue, irresolvable, perhaps, as the definitions shift with time and geography, with gender and class also critical in an evaluation, and then, the question, to what end? Certainly to acknowledge the experience of others and of the totality, and perhaps to garner greater nuance of understanding of these issues, one hopes...
Thank you for this interesting discussion on a different side of the topic of race. When one group dominates other groups—a very human tendency—a set of inescapable repercussions is created, extending seemingly forever into the future in a myriad of ways.
such a complex issue, irresolvable, perhaps, as the definitions shift with time and geography, with gender and class also critical in an evaluation, and then, the question, to what end? Certainly to acknowledge the experience of others and of the totality, and perhaps to garner greater nuance of understanding of these issues, one hopes...
Thank you for this interesting discussion on a different side of the topic of race. When one group dominates other groups—a very human tendency—a set of inescapable repercussions is created, extending seemingly forever into the future in a myriad of ways.