Gallery

Malik

For me, art is a medium to bring cognizance to truths that many may find challenging to acknowledge. Suspicious of artists and critics who claim the most pure forms of art are those that dismiss issues of politics and society, I center my realities as a young, low-income, Black male in all of my artwork, explicitly or implicitly.

The artists I seek to emulate in my own work are those who boldly spoke against systems of domination, those who unashamedly spoke their truths and sought to lead the masses into a world unfettered by violence in each of its manifestations. A few of these people include James Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry, Essex Hemphill, Audre Lorde, Carrie Ma and Edwidge Danticat.
Each of these people have taught me the importance, as well as the price, of dismantling the blockades in my artwork as well as in my daily life.They've taught me the possibilities available to one who bravely seeks to weld aesthetic integrity with incisive sociopolitical insights. They've taught me the process of bringing my full self into the work.
Art isn't mere pleasurable images for those with excessive amounts of leisure time to blankly gaze at during lackadaisical museum outings. Art, in its purest form, is the medium through which artists push themselves to delve into the dangerous areas of their psyches and, using the materials found there, to create worlds where they can exist as their entire selves, unencumbered by constraining forces, bringing those dedicated to a world of freely flowing creativity along this journey.
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Adding Critical Thinking to the Curriculum

"While I was a public school student, I felt extremely ignorant of the world around me. Much of what I was learning seemed to be irrelevant in the world outside the classroom. Being homeschooled gifted me with the freedom to explore topics relevant to my reality and identity. As a result, I am more informed about the world and my role in it. I feel more empowered to change what disturbs me about society. Because of these books I have become more engaged in making change in the world."

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I am infinite.

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Untitled

"I'm not perfect, but I smile through the pain."

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Beast of Burden

"I saw this statue of a horse in a museum and it made [me] wonder if horses have deep emotional needs. I'm unsure if horses have those needs or not, but we all know [that] people do. Keeping that in mind, why is it that the emotional needs of so many young people in this city go unmet on a daily basis? I'm referring to the way our school system 'disciplines' students. Suspensions and expulsions are doled out on a seemingly daily basis. On top of that, [there] are still the constant pressures of being told what to wear, what to do, and how to think. Once we enter a school building, we're basically told to 'leave all of that outside stuff at the door.' Students' emotional lives are usually ignored until someone reaches their boiling point and something dangerous happens. It's hard to believe that schools want little more than test scores and classwork from us. Sometimes I feel as if schools only look at us like beasts of burden."

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Malik

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Those Days

"I remember the days I blindly wished for wings, desperately longing for the power of flight. On the really tough days, I'd have the audacity to pray for a harder, rougher shape to replace the soft, fragile form that is constantly crushed by the pain. But miracles and blessings glide above my head, walking the Earth is my destiny. Though traveling underneath it is when the curse creeps in and the pain flattens my spirit. Going to school became torture, envisioning him dying beneath that train over, and over, and over, every fucking day just to arrive at those hell gates school became. Salt was their insensitivity, their target? My very visible, open wounds. Finding myself on the edge of a dark abyss, hell's staff pushed me in. So one form of torture, followed by another, became way too much to bear. Wishes denied, most days, I lay grounded to the bed. Running from myself was easier in that lonesome abyss. The dark shielded me from the pain my older brother left me."

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Greenhouse

I was informed that our greenhouse has been broken for years. Why hasn't such a rare piece of equipment in a public school been repaired? More students than you would think enjoy handling plants and watching them grow is just as enjoyable. Plenty of schools have gardening clubs and with our own greenhouse, we could grow much rarer and delicate plants than any school without a greenhouse could imagine. Capturing students attention through any means is key to academic success.

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Narrow Destiny

Without arts in our school system, we think the only path to being successful is to be an academic scholar. Free thinking and creativity just STOP and we’re taught the only path to success is to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a scientist. While these are great career choices, and obviously necessary, not everyone is cut out to be these things. What happened to promoting kids to be writers, singers, dancers, and visual artists? STOP and think about that question…

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High View Shot

Cardozo is known to have one of the best views of the city. With such a great view, why does our school have to be so low? Like any other DCPS, we're considered a 'bad' school. DCPS has just as much potential as any other school system. We should have higher self-esteem and pride in our school.

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Graffiti Locker

It is a shame that every time you open your locker, you see curse words and names of imaginary people. Our lockers are something we see everyday. If students cared for their school, such atrocities would not have been created. I think if school became more interesting, people would not develop enough boredom to deface school property. If DCPS had enough extracurricular programs that interested the majority of the student population, most people wouldn't have the energy or come up with the idea to destroy their own school.

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Why I Feel Schools Have Little Creativity

I got my awakening to arts in the 8th grade. My teacher Mr. Bullock didn’t just have us draw pictures, he made us think about our work and the works of other people more than just jumping into drawing. I really liked this class -- it was a place where self-expression ran rampant. Sadly, this was hardly the case in my other classes. I’ve been through three high schools -- Bell, Anacostia and Cardozo. The single thing linking all of these schools that I wish to talk about is a lack of creativity. I think without any creativity, some people feel they can’t express themselves. Although DCPS has sports and music programs, normally there are very few programs to do with things such as writing, drawing, etc. There are lots of reasons for this: drawing and photography require numerous supplies that aren't within the school’s budget. Additionally, I believe DCPS teaches to the test way too much and they only really give focus to the DC-CAS. This is too bad. Arts should not be left out.

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Untitled

A light bulb can represent a new idea. DCPS needs all the light bulbs they can get.

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