WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.900 align:middle line:84% And that's when I remembered this piece by Kate Clark. 00:00:03.900 --> 00:00:11.270 align:middle line:84% Kate Clark is an artist who does taxidermy, 00:00:11.270 --> 00:00:16.560 align:middle line:84% and she really does buy the hide and stuff it. 00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:19.880 align:middle line:84% And so I contacted Kate, and I said, Kate-- 00:00:19.880 --> 00:00:24.170 align:middle line:84% I didn't know her, but I wrote her email. 00:00:24.170 --> 00:00:27.950 align:middle line:84% And I said I'd love to buy the rights to replicate that 00:00:27.950 --> 00:00:30.630 align:middle line:90% image on the right. 00:00:30.630 --> 00:00:33.770 align:middle line:84% And I just mentioned-- she said, well, can you send me the book? 00:00:33.770 --> 00:00:37.020 align:middle line:84% I'll read it and maybe you could commission a piece. 00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:38.570 align:middle line:90% And that was exciting. 00:00:38.570 --> 00:00:40.430 align:middle line:84% I was like, I haven't commissioned a piece. 00:00:40.430 --> 00:00:41.810 align:middle line:90% That sounds really grown up. 00:00:41.810 --> 00:00:42.836 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:42.836 --> 00:00:44.060 align:middle line:90% I'll do that. 00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:49.970 align:middle line:84% So I was really excited to-- she renegotiated the price. 00:00:49.970 --> 00:00:56.150 align:middle line:84% And she let me pick out the hide, and I picked out this. 00:00:56.150 --> 00:00:59.750 align:middle line:84% And then after six months or so, she 00:00:59.750 --> 00:01:02.150 align:middle line:90% emailed and said, it's done. 00:01:02.150 --> 00:01:04.700 align:middle line:84% When you're in New York, come to my studio. 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:06.497 align:middle line:90% You can take a look at it. 00:01:06.497 --> 00:01:07.580 align:middle line:90% And so I went to New York. 00:01:07.580 --> 00:01:10.760 align:middle line:84% I went to her studio and I saw this. 00:01:10.760 --> 00:01:13.310 align:middle line:90% And I said, I don't like it. 00:01:13.310 --> 00:01:16.640 align:middle line:90% 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:18.390 align:middle line:90% And she said, why not? 00:01:18.390 --> 00:01:23.420 align:middle line:84% And I said, well, I think I want that one, because the thing 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:27.800 align:middle line:84% I liked about that one was the expression on the face. 00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:31.820 align:middle line:84% The affect-- I was interested in this idea 00:01:31.820 --> 00:01:37.610 align:middle line:84% of the way in which deer, when they see a human being come 00:01:37.610 --> 00:01:44.570 align:middle line:84% towards them, they know to be afraid, be very afraid, 00:01:44.570 --> 00:01:47.420 align:middle line:84% and the alertness and the vigilance that goes along 00:01:47.420 --> 00:01:51.770 align:middle line:84% with your presence in their area. 00:01:51.770 --> 00:01:53.570 align:middle line:84% And I thought, oh, that's close to what 00:01:53.570 --> 00:01:57.320 align:middle line:84% it means to be a Black person in the United States. 00:01:57.320 --> 00:02:04.970 align:middle line:84% And so that look was what I wanted. 00:02:04.970 --> 00:02:08.130 align:middle line:84% But Kate said to me, well, I read the book, 00:02:08.130 --> 00:02:13.690 align:middle line:84% and I thought it was so horrible all this stuff about the way-- 00:02:13.690 --> 00:02:14.630 align:middle line:90% and Kate's white. 00:02:14.630 --> 00:02:17.120 align:middle line:84% And she said, I just think it's terrible the way 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:20.300 align:middle line:84% Black people are treated, and I just 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:24.650 align:middle line:84% think that it's great that they have survived 00:02:24.650 --> 00:02:30.240 align:middle line:84% and have so much dignity in the face of oppression. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:36.520 align:middle line:90% And so I wanted to present that. 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.310 align:middle line:90% And I said, I like that. 00:02:38.310 --> 00:02:39.090 align:middle line:90% That's very nice. 00:02:39.090 --> 00:02:41.820 align:middle line:84% But I'm not interested in dignity 00:02:41.820 --> 00:02:45.130 align:middle line:90% in the face of oppression. 00:02:45.130 --> 00:02:52.150 align:middle line:84% I'm interested in the pain that is in the face of oppression. 00:02:52.150 --> 00:02:55.810 align:middle line:84% Because do you remember when in Charleston, 00:02:55.810 --> 00:02:58.780 align:middle line:84% when Dylann Roof shot all those people in the basement 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:01.060 align:middle line:90% at the Bible study? 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:04.460 align:middle line:84% And the newspapers were so excited about how forgiving 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:06.950 align:middle line:90% the Black people were. 00:03:06.950 --> 00:03:10.390 align:middle line:84% They couldn't stop talking about it. 00:03:10.390 --> 00:03:12.040 align:middle line:90% And that's fine. 00:03:12.040 --> 00:03:14.390 align:middle line:84% I'm not saying people shouldn't be forgiving. 00:03:14.390 --> 00:03:15.400 align:middle line:90% That's fine. 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:20.950 align:middle line:84% But that sense that to go there means you jump over with that. 00:03:20.950 --> 00:03:22.750 align:middle line:90% You jump over the pain. 00:03:22.750 --> 00:03:26.890 align:middle line:90% You jump over the stress. 00:03:26.890 --> 00:03:31.030 align:middle line:90% You jump over the devastation. 00:03:31.030 --> 00:03:36.670 align:middle line:84% And so I went back and said, that's what's in Citizen, 00:03:36.670 --> 00:03:39.670 align:middle line:90% the image on the right. 00:03:39.670 --> 00:03:41.830 align:middle line:84% This is in the Racial Imaginary, because I already 00:03:41.830 --> 00:03:45.140 align:middle line:84% paid for the rights [INAUDIBLE] so I 00:03:45.140 --> 00:03:47.970 align:middle line:90% was like, where can I put it? 00:03:47.970 --> 00:03:49.960 align:middle line:84% But it's also-- it's very beautiful. 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.050 align:middle line:84% I mean, Kate is a very fantastic artist. 00:03:53.050 --> 00:03:56.460 align:middle line:84% In fact, I think I have some other examples.