Spilling the Tea: The Kwanzaa Edition* - Day 5 - Nia (Purpose)

Hi everyone, Hilary’s wife Ara again. As promised, the takeover of her instagram account continues with my fifth pairing of 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 5 - Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our
community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Does tradition make us stronger? What’s greatness? I’m not an authority on morality. I enjoyed playing Capture the Flag. I liked to win, even when the object of the game was to take what wasn’t mine. Hilary’s work blows past “what was” settles into “that may be what you heard, but don’t get it twisted.” Is anyone victorious in Flipwreck? Will it be the art deco furniture or the reproductive advances that will enable the next generation’s comfortable superiority in Pomeranian Line? Will they burn the Schad and cherish the Dix? In Wishing Well, is the desire for dominance greater than the capacity to cultivate? My father collects art and my mother collects major renovation projects. It’s not 40 acres, but there’s a pool for cooling off after a long day memorializing the progress as Hilary does in her Yard Work paintings. I don’t collect land or art. I prefer stories. In 'The Monster at the End of this Book starring Lovable, Furry, Old Grover’ he begs and pleads with the reader not to turn the page for fear of the monster at the end. I won’t spoil the ending, but let’s just say it’s a master class in suspense. If that’s not your cup of tea, try Isabel Wilkerson’s ‘Caste.’ - “the owner of an old house knows that whatever you are ignoring will never go away…Ignorance is no protection from the consequences of inaction.” Hilary’s the brave one in this duo. She goes into the basement of our Brooklyn brownstone when things go bump in the night. I’m braver when it comes to her art even though it forces me to look where I’d rather not. Within, around, and beyond my closest held assumptions about myself. And when I’m done looking, it reminds me to act. Go tell a different story. One that might make me/us queasy, but could change the world.

Paintings featured: Pomeranian Line (2007), Flipwreck (2004), Wishing Well (1997), Dirt Pile with Flowers (Dirt Pile #5)

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