MF: I knew talking to you wasn’t going to be easy because there are some artists that remind you of all that you can do as an artist, whether you choose to or not, and you’re one of them! Like this thing for MECCA, it’s not somewhere I would go, quite hon- estly, but I love the fact that you said ‘I want to do this, I want to contribute.’ MS: Well, again I ask myself, what would Nina and all those be doing right now? I mean, Gaza is such a loaded topic right now and some folks may not agree with what I’m doing, but —
of a ‘resting place.’ I’m also horribly behind on so many things about our struggle.
can be grueling to put yourself where the action is. I did a piece on Harriet Tubman where I went to where she was born, to where she passed away — three years of incredible research, and just putting myself in all those places was really valuable to get- ting an understanding of her and the times and what they went through. I did the same thing with the Civil Rights piece I wrote. I went down south, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas. I put myself in places where you can see a slave block right there — I wanted to see the Civil Rights movement on a local level and find the stories that don’t make it into the history books. MF: But let me step in a little bit on that, which is… So, you’re saying that you feel a duty to go into the African American experience from the angle of poli- tics and social justice, and that the corrective narra- tive framework that I’m reacting to is not something that tires or exhausts you. In fact it’s something that nourishes you. MS: Most times I don’t know anything about a sub- ject beyond surface knowledge, and so for me, if I’m going to have something to say artistically about it, I need to learn as much as possible. Sometimes, like method acting, you become what you’re acting. And there’s a selfish part to this, because I want to gain more knowledge about a subject, get more meat on my bones. I mean, I did a piece on the prison industrial com- plex…. As an artist, what am I supposed to do? Just sit by and act like it’s not happening? No, that’s not what Charles Mingus would have done! Look, I want to be the best artist I can be, but my aim is to see myself in the light of Mingus, Nina Simone, Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln. These are towering figures in history, a level that I’ll never achieve, but if you use your work to highlight what’s happening around you it’s often gonna be about injustice. MF: So being an activist and an artist are one and the same thing to you? MS: Oooo, that’s a tough one. I don’t know how to answer that right now, but I know that my impulse is to show up for my community. I mean, the last thing I did that had to do with “activism,” was organize a bunch of musicians to raise money for MECA, which is a Middle East children’s alliance that helps send money to kids and families in Palestine.
MF: Hahahahahaha!
MS: Trust me, I’m not into the ‘struggle’ fetish.
MF: That’s such an important phrase you just used.
MS: I mean, look how long it’s taken film to reflect the diversity of the Black experience outside of “Roots” and the “Color Purple!” All great stuff, but — Y’see, I don’t think stories that are centered on our struggle are absent of beauty. I mean, that’s the defi- nition of the Blues, triumph and tragedy side by side, and the human condition cannot exist without both things being represented. That’s how it is, isn’t it? resting place Word forms: resting places plural 1. COUNTABLE NOUN A resting place is a place where you can stay and rest, usually for a short period of time. The area was an important resting place for many types of migrant birds. I’ve always seen creative expression as a spiritual act, as creativity is something you receive, something that comes to you, rather than something you need to search for. And no matter how it shows itself, how it manifests, it takes an extraordinary amount of faith to take something from the safety of within and put it out into the world for everyone to inspect. In the ‘Boom- ing Declarations’ dept of my soul, I still believe that the artist is the slayer of autocratic dragons, defender of the bold and the beautiful, the messenger that gives life meaning. Artists give us a lot to be thankful for. Viva Le Artist! MICHAEL FRENCH is a director, writer, actor, and inventor of brilliant things, originally from London, England. In an ideal world he would live in Morocco, have another place in Barcelona, spend three months of the year in Ghana, and have a cabin in the woods of Bath, England, where he would go to write every winter. He would meditate every day, practice Tai Chi three times a week, eat Indian food every Sunday, and be fit enough to run a marathon if he suddenly feels so inspired. Mr. French is currently still trying to finish his first collection of short stories entitled, ‘BABBLE.’
MF: So be it.
MS: So be it.
MF: I understand the duty that you feel, the muses that you have and their influence on you, I get that. But to be Black is political, whether we want it to be or not, I mean, that’s what we’ve been turned into because of history, and my version of being a Black person has never been easy going, y’know what I mean? There’s always some kind of tension when I’m in public, and that’s the tiring part. Amy Sherald, the painter, talks about a ‘resting place’ and puts it so much better than I will, but do you ever want to cre- ate something that doesn’t take from Black people in tension? If you’re going to talk about Harriet Tubman, there’s a tension there. MLK, there’s a tension there. MS: Well, yes, is the short answer to that. That’s why I started reading a bunch of Octavia Butler books. Because I looked up and I thought, man, everything I’ve involved myself with has to do with history and it felt like maybe I was limiting my possibilities. And I have done things outside of the ‘movement’ pieces, but they’ve all been about Black culture.
MARCUS SHELBY
MICHAEL FRENCH: I just want to give you the big picture of why I wanted to talk with you…
MARCUS SHELBY: Okay.
MF: It’s about the idea of Black artists and the ‘responsibility’ we can feel to correct the past with our work. Just looking at the titles of some of your work. I mean, you’ve made a very clear statement as to where you’re coming from…. MS: Absolutely! There’s no question I feel that respon- sibility! ‘Cus I’ve had the opportunity to check the work of people like Nina Simone and Charles Min- gus, and that’s what they were all about. Nina Sim- one said, and I’m paraphrasing, but she talked about the duty of the artist. It’s the artist’s duty to speak on what’s going on around them. I mean, that’s one phi- losophy, but I buy into it one hundred percent! And it
MF: I understand that.
MS: I did something about the Black experience during the pandemic.
MF: You did?
MS: Yeah, but thinking about it, it was still to do with struggle because it dealt with the protests, the expansion of homelessness in the Tenderloin, so it was still along the same lines, but…. I like that idea
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