UPTOWN COUNTS: ART AS ACTIVISM
Tapping into the history of Harlem’s businesses being an incubator for grassroots organizing, “Uptown Counts: Art as Activism” is a pop-up and digital exhibition of New York City artists who have lent their artwork to draw attention to the importance of the 2020 Census.
There has been a strategic attempt to capitalize on people’s fear and distrust to undermine the response rate among hard-to-count populations who are low-income, communities of color, immigrant communities and youth. That is why, in 2020, few East Harlem residents are predicted to respond — putting our community at stake. The number of responses in our neighborhood determines how much of $675 billion in federal funding East Harlem will receive — funding that goes toward schools, housing, healthcare, infrastructure and food assistance. Our response rates will impact what East Harlem looks like for the next 10 years: That’s why Uptown Grand Central and other community organizations are a part of this largest peacetime mobilization to get out the count.
The Census is a social justice and civil rights issue.
The artwork below appropriately covers a wide range of topics and themes, and is how artists responded and showed up to the call of how their work was a form of activism. We hope by showcasing these beautiful pieces, you’ll show up for your community and be encouraged to take the Census today!
- A note from Organizer, Ayana Ayo. Exhibition Coordinator: Kathleena Howie
Note: Most of the artwork in this exhibit was first displayed in our local small businesses just as the COVID-19 pandemic began, effectively locking most of the art inside businesses that were shuttered, or open for take-out only. Since that time, we worked to repurpose the artwork into this online format. We hope our businesses are back in action soon, so that you can view the art in real time! Click here for an article about the show on Street Art NYC.
Doris Rodriguez
Sofia
Everyday urban scenes and moments in life are the main subjects of Doris Rodriguez’s work. She is concerned with issues relating to the urban experience, personal & social intimacy, socioeconomic hierarchy, identity and how politics, culture and media affect our perception of ourselves and each other. She seeks to portray her subjects with dignity and with beauty, humanity and power.
On Display: Sisters Caribbean Cuisine @ 47 East 124th Street
www.dorisr.com
We three Kings
As an artist/writer, Lartey is drawn to abstract expressionism. She is highly influenced by her vibrant West African culture and the diaspora as a whole. Her work challenges the audience to question and experience freedom through colors.This piece is dedicated to the vitality of Black men.
On Display at Harlem Wine Gallery @ 2067 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard
The Importance of Education
This piece is a tribute to late Black Panther leader, Fred Hampton, who advocated for political education as a necessity for people to take action. He stressed how important knowing it is to know why you are doing what you are doing, and the danger in just being active or woke because it is trendy. The QR code on the image links to a video of Chairman Fred speaking.
On Display at Uptown Veg @ 52 East 125th Street
Offering
Mastrion’s work has a focus on social justice, specifically women's rights and youth education. As a classically trained oil painter, Mastrion often portrays people, elements of nature and the disappearing aspects of the city, focusing on cityscapes and street relics.
On Display at Harlem Yoga Studio @ 44 West 125th Street, 3rd Floor
Mother and child
Matarrita is known for her portraiture of humans and nature, and likes to explore the harmony between both. She challenges us to think of our relationships with each other and how they relate to the beauty and preciousness we find in nature.
On Display at Sylvia’s @ 328 Malcolm X Boulevard
Beautifully ….
Working with graffiti, vernacular drawings, and natural elements like flowers and leaves, Lady K Fever challenges us to think about the interaction and relationship of these forces in our everyday lives. Her studio work explores themes of rebellious feminine. A healing journey remixed, beautiful abandonment and roots to nature through examination of self: woman, mother, lover and survivor.
On Display at Sisters Caribbean Cuisine @ 47 East 124th Street
One
Devigne’s abstract portraits serve as a way to draw attention to the anonymity people can feel in society. His focus on women in particular highlights the artist’s desire to see women be acknowledged and represented more in the world.
On Display at Harlem Yoga Studio @ 44 West 125th Street, 3rd Floor
Early Spring II
Gutierrez draws pleasure from the unseen connections in all living things — the beauty in both the bloom and the wilt and everything that unfolds in between. Through these drawings, she imagines floral landscapes that both blossom and wither simultaneously, re-birthing constantly.
On Display at Harlem Yoga Studio @ 44 West 125th Street, 3rd Floor
Al Diaz is a native New Yorker who grew up in the lower east side during the tumultuous 1960-70s. He is best known for his collection with Jean Michel Basquiat on the SAMO©… graffiti back in 1978. Diaz currently continues his work in a TEXT DRIVEN format. His aim is to point out the hypocrisy, superficality and general mediocrity that our society has come to accept in all aspects of our daily lives. Warnings and encouragements to “Wake Up, Open your eyes and Minds and Fight Back!!”
Miss Boom Box
I Love You
The words “I Love You” written in many different languages is the backdrop to this piece about inter-generational women.
Crowd
This painting is about the power of people.
And is inspired by the people’s marches and protests around the world that have changed and shaped our society. It's inspired by a Spanish proverb, “El Pueblo unido jamás será vencido,” meaning that when a group of people sticks together, they're hardly ever beaten.
BG183 was born and raised in the South Bronx, and is one of the founding members of the legendary Tats Cru collective, which painted the memorial wall of Bronx-born Puerto Rican rapper Big Pun.
Creating art to initiate a visual conversation with others, the artist’s goal is to provide the opportunity to ask ourselves questions of social progress. Reflecting a voice of the working class, the following series depicts homelessness and the working class.
www.workbykiki.com
The Bleeding News
Ifil-Ryan’s work is about the internal psychological impact of mass media and the inherent "othering" via media outlets. It is a call to return to a deeper relationship with the inner self. The gold lines printed atop the newspapers are a meditative process, resulting in a profile image overlaid as a reminder that we are all connected, and that we are more than the headlines tell us we are.
Jess Rolls is a curator and artist with a social practice in making ceramics. She creates environments for people to come together for experimentation, research, action and exchange. For Uptown Counts, Jess shared ceramic pieces created with community members in Harlem, Queens and the Bronx made in her mobile ceramic studio between 2017-2020. At her clay talking-making table,"Open Studio,” Jess explored food and taste memories with participants as they co-produced ceramic pinch-pots and tableware pieces. The project starts a conversation around food origins, immigrant histories, identities and belonging. The result is a collective tableware, made by many hands and voices, from the many places we call home and the people that make up our families and communities.
Hermanas
Santos a collage/mixed media artist who uses found imagery and symbols to make commentary on the social, cultural, spiritual and political relationships of our world.
Josephine Barreiro
Peace
Artist Josephine Barreiro presents her exploration of emotion and intention through gestural works. Gestures are a nonverbal form of communication for which bodily actions are used to communicate important messages. They meaningfully express thought, intention and emotions. Barreiro's figures convey emotional and visual responses to life experiences and interactions with others and the environment. It is important to recognize that it is our nonverbal communication, our gestures and postures, that speak the loudest.
Lanzo is an abstract artist whose work evokes biological/DNA/natural world imagery to allude to our humanity subjectively.
juanitalanzo.com
Speak Up
The title and the work speak for themselves. Lexi Bella reminds us of the power of our voices.
Perez woke up one morning, and while reading the news, said to himself, "It's like we're in the twilight zone. Nothing this man does feels right. In times of need, we look to who is supposed to lead us. Each time disappointed at the outcome. The hands in the swirl are the people in need, reaching out for help, just to be let down. He's choked every time. We are the joke of the world and he's the clown performing.”
MED
Resist
MED is a multi-talented NYC tattoo artist, illustrator and graffiti writer. MED overlays abstract textures of paint splashes, flares and drips. His use of vibrant colors collide with rhythmically floating geometrical shapes and ancient symbols pull focus to inspire thoughtfulness, peace and happiness. Using found objects like barbed wire to express resistance to systematic oppression, MED seeks to remind people of their rights and freedoms to speak up & to fight together.
Salvador Espinoza is a photographer born and raised in New York City. Primarily a documentary photographer and photojournalist, he specializes in focusing on social issues by shooting realistic slices of everyday life.
Shanequa Benetiz
black America
Benetiz turned her inward feelings of being Black in America onto a canvas. Within the piece there are intentional details making a commentary on the judicial system, mass incarnation, gentrification and police brutality.
BEE Cautious
King Bee’s main focus with painting is the portrayal of two things: One is the identity of the work itself through the materials, location and scale. The scenery is deliberately colorful with visually animated characters: King Bee, represented with a range of emotions, is visible throughout all of the work and ultimately the bees symbolize people, working collectively, struggling to survive and protect our home: Planet Earth.
