Project Title: Body Prints
Artistic Noise Year: 2016
Description: Contemporary artist David Hammons created a series of body prints in the 1960’s and 70’s. Hammons spoke of these works as his “moral obligation as a black artist to try to graphically document what I feel socially”. It felt timely to revisit these works and the concepts behind the creation of them with Artistic Noise youth artists in 2016. Although these prints are dealing with some very complex issues, the act of creating them is actually quite celebratory, playful and completely messy. The youth artists decide on a gesture that represents how they feel that day. Their emotions responded to their incarceration, their love of family, and also the playful quality of the project. Using vaseline (Hammons used grease) the youth artists covered either their faces or hands and pressed these onto large sheets of paper. We then dusted the paper with charcoal powder and when we removed the excess charcoal these beautiful and haunting images emerged. These workshops were experimental, spontaneous and fun. Objectives and Goals: This project uses David Hammons series of Body Prints from the 1960’s and 70’s as a point of departure for youth artists to create their own body prints that deal with the complexities of incarceration and race, as well as the playfulness of being teenagers. Creative/Technical Skills: Youth artists play with materials such as charcoal pigment. They learn how to create body prints to convey a specific message. They learn about body gesture and how this can create meaning and emotion. Critical/Conceptual Skills: Learning about contemporary artist David Hammons through open ended yet focused questions. Youth artists are