Spilling the Tea: The Kwanzaa Edition* - Day 6 - Kuumba (Creativity)

Hi everyone, Hilary’s wife Ara again. As promised, the takeover of her instagram account continues with my sixth 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 6 - Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to
leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

“Do we need go bags?”

Was the reported widespread exodus from New York City real?

Car-less, I thought about the women making a run for it in Mother Lode. In 2015 we used that image on our wedding program. We skipped town the day after the Supreme Court declared us lawfully wedded.

This time, we didn’t leave.

I felt closer to the scene of Alice and Gertrude, seemingly unfazed in 1939. As Alice smokes (nerves? resignation?), their art handler readies their art collection.They will leave Paris. To will be safe.

Who would keep us safe?

Soon, it felt safer to stay put. Our Brooklyn soundscape evolved: ambulance sirens, clapping for essential workers, protest chants, news and police helicopters, fireworks, and for a brief time, silence. Now, we’re onto birdsongs. I guess they stayed put too.

I went to the dentist. Double masked and in the backseat of an Uber with the windows rolled down on a cold and rainy day, we passed Rockefeller Center. Atlas wore a mask.

Mother Lode and Pearl Trader are set at Christie’s Auction House - neighbor to the masked man holding up the entire world. In Hilary’s revision, women from nations across the world are gathered and bidding on genetic material.

In 2014, Hilary co-curated a show on Lichtenstein’s Nudes and Interiors at Flag Art Foundation. My eye goes to Hirst’s sheep suspended in time and conversation with the Lichtenstein. “I know how you must feel, Brad…” It must be nice to be Brad. We’re still grappling with Black Lives Mattering. Black Feelings are next level. We’ve still got some work to do. Let’s get creative. Together, we’ll get through this. 2021, bring it. Happy NYE…