Spilling the Tea: The Kwanzaa Edition* - Day 3 - Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

Hi everyone, Hilary’s wife Ara again. As promised, the takeover of her instagram account continues with my third pairing of some works by Hilary Harkness with a Kwanzaa principle along with a few of my musings for you to sip on as I continue Spilling the Tea: The Kwanzaa Edition.

Day 3 - Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers and sisters; problems our problems and to solve them together. 

Say his name. Say her name. There are so many names of black men and women who have been killed that we do not utter. That we do not know. There are too many fellow humans whose families have not been able to see justice delivered timely, if at all. I live with a white woman, but she is not a Becky, a Karen or a Miss Ann. She’s Hilary. A fierce defender of me and all of my identifiers (seen and unseen). She helps me face up to the existence of fragility, supremacy and everything in between when I’d rather pretend it’s not there. Whether it’s speaking truth to the powers that be at The Wing, our Brooklyn co-op, or the butcher who claimed not to “hear” my simple request for a choice cut, Hilary is ready to bring the fight. In the aftermath of the Dana Schutz’s Open Casket painting, we continued our ongoing conversations about who gets to depict what and on whose behalf. The answers aren’t easy or obvious; nor are our positions on the matter. The dialogue is with us as we make each new piece, write each new word. Each of us have our blind spots, some dictated by race, but others dictated by socioeconomics, geography of origin, general disposition and experience. But we agree more than we disagree. For everything we seek to burn down, break down or subvert, we’re also looking for ways to build up and edify using our privilege and platforms. These pieces by Hilary represent some of those intersections. There will be more work to do, more problems to solve, more art to make and more stories to write. Do you have a favorite? An alternative? 

Works featured: Burn Notice (2020), Air Raid (2005) Keeping up Appearances (1999), Fencing Supplies (2018)

*This and the subsequent “Spilling the Tea” entries originally appeared as a series of Instagram posts.