SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD VOLUME CLVIII, ISSUE 11
FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 17, 2023
BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
ARTS & CULTURE
METRO
Dori Walker ’24 captures ‘Black visuality’ through art
Racial, social justice activism in Providence
Student photographer, videographer focuses on Black identity, ‘regality’ in subjects BY RYA VALLABHANENI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Dori Walker ’24 entered the Blue Room with a sizable black box tapping the side of her knee. She came to talk about her work and her creative practices and processes. Also, she had to return a camera. Walker is a student photographer and videographer at Brown, concentrating in Modern Culture and Media. “I grew up being a very artistic kid, drawing a lot, painting a lot, doing dance, practicing the violin,” Walker said. But as she grew up, school began to take precedence. “I got here and I was really scared of approaching the practice of art,” Walker said. “I didn’t see myself as someone who did art.” She came to Brown knowing that she was interested in media but planned to study economics, political science or ethnic studies. Only about a year and a half ago, in the fall of her sophomore
year, did her focus truly began to shift when she became the co-chair of digital media for the Black Student Union, primarily taking photos at student events. In the spring, Walker took a “filmic practice” class in the MCM department as well as a visual photography class in the Visual Art department. There, she “learned a lot about the mechanics of photography” and began to accumulate enough knowledge to hone her own practice, she said. ‘Centering Blackness in photography’ Taking photos “started as a way for me to show the people in my life how I see them,” Walker said. Now, though, she also makes room for her own artistic intent in her photos. According to her digital portfolio, her “work aims to center Blackness and explore how we can shed radically transformative light on the Black identity and the existing catalog of Black visuality.” Walker explained that “there’s always a goal of achieving a kind of stoicism in my photography with my subjects — a kind of regality to how people are rendered.” “I definitely want the way I pho-
SEE WALKER PAGE 12
Community leaders, organizers discuss voter turnout challenges, legislative efforts BY RHEA RASQUINHA METRO EDITOR From protests and campaigns to voter registration drives and fundraisers, activism efforts in Providence have taken many different forms to address the issues faced by local communities. Today, Providence organizations are focused on legislative reform, increasing voter turnout and empowering communities of color. “We have a really good progressive wave in Rhode Island,” said Zachary Pinto, communications director for Black Lives Matter Rhode Island Political Action Committee, which works to support BIPOC politicians and “progressive” policies. “There’s a lot of good organizations doing a lot of work.” Community aid and the ‘intersectionality’ of today’s pressing issues Ray Rickman, co-founder and executive director of Stages of Freedom, a heritage museum and youth empowerment organization, said that
ARTS & CULTURE
5 powerful reads for Black History Month Short stories, novels by Black authors navigate friendship, vulnerability, healing
BLACK HISTORY MONTH ISSUE
Providence’s Black community doesn’t receive the support it needs from the government and local corporations and universities. “A lot of this is a lack of government support to (community organizations and advocacy groups), and a lot of it is the failure of major corporations and universities to be of any help,” Rickman said. “The support for the community is weaker and weaker and weaker.” To fill that gap, Stages of Freedom offers swimming, cultural education and empowerment and civil rights pro-
Nigerian descent, said in an interview that framing her decision to write about Black characters as a political act is “like saying that my life, the very life that I’m living, and my body are political, and sometimes I think that I’m just living.” Both Morrison and Oyeyemi are speaking to the widely overlooked fact that literature does not have to be white
to be universal. Their worlds are viewed as “smaller” — but as Morrison said, her expanded range of emotions and perceptions only made her world bigger. In honor of Black History Month, here are five works by Black writers that provide glimpses into these “big-
SEE LITERATURE PAGE 9
SEE ACTIVISM PAGE 4
Hughes reading celebrates poet, nurtures community
BY JULIA VAZ METRO EDITOR
ASHLEY CHOI / HERALD
grams to community members. Rickman is currently working to create a $1 million endowment for Stages of Freedom’s swim program. BLM RI PAC focuses its community efforts on “endorsing progressive candidates of color,” voter registration and mutual aid work, Pinto said. Through food drives and other initiatives that help meet communities’ needs, PAC reminds local community members of “the importance of their vote,” Pinto
ARTS & CULTURE
Organizers, performers reflect on Hughes’s legacy, discuss expanding event
BY AALIA JAGWANI ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR In a 1987 interview with the New York Times, author Toni Morrison recalled how people would ask whether she considers herself a “Black writer” or a “writer,” with the implication that she was “bigger” or “better” than the former. That view, she thoroughly refused. “I really think the range of emotions and perceptions I have had access to as a Black person and as a female person are greater than those of people who are neither,” Morrison said in the interview. “So it seems to me that my world did not shrink because I was a Black female writer. It just got bigger.’’ Morrison’s work has much to say about the Black experience, but her stories are just as much about love, friendship, grief and loss — she merely tells them without centering whiteness. Helen Oyeyemi, a British novelist of
COURTESY OF THE AVENUE CO., KENDEL JOSEPH, THE LADY J, AGONZA, ABOVE
BLM RI PAC faced the challenge of low young voter turnout in the 2022 midterm election, said Zachary Pinto, communications director.
Founded in 1994, the Langston Hughes Community Poetry Reading shares the work and wisdom of the Harlem Renaissance poet with the Providence community. The event brings together artists and community members to celebrate the work of Hughes and enjoy a night of poetry, storytelling and performance. This year’s event, hosted Feb. 5 by the Providence Public Library, brought together more than 400 people. The Herald spoke to the Poetry Reading’s organizers, artists, collaborators and participants to understand how the organization has tapped into Hughes’ legacy to foster community and celebrate Black creativity.
U. News
U. News
Metro
Commentary
A look at raceconscious admissions in Brown’s history Page 2
Profs. talk changes to AP African American Studies Page 8
State Senate bill proposes to replace lead service pipes Page 9
Wooten ’24: Black educators deserve care and respect Page 6
TODAY
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‘Hold fast to dreams’: Founding and organizing The Poetry Reading’s founding in 1995 was preceded by the creation of the now-closed Langston Hughes Center for The Arts and Education, according to April Brown, co-director of the Poetry Reading. The Center was a nonprofit focused on incentivizing the exploration of Hughes’ work and the Black community’s artistic creativity. The late George Houston Bass, professor of theater arts and Afro-American studies and a member of the Center’s Board of Directors, was the first to suggest the possibility of expanding the mission of the center to a community-focused event, according to Houston Bass’s wife, performer and educator Ramona Bass Kolobe ’72. Houston Bass, who worked as Hughes’ secretary and literary assistant, was also the administrator of the poet’s estate following his death in 1967. The center, which was designed
SEE HUGHES PAGE 8
TOMORROW
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DESIGNED BY MADDY CHERR ’23 DESIGN EDITOR JANE ZHOU ’25 DESIGNER NEIL MEHTA ’25 DESIGN CHIEF SIRINE BENALI ’23 DESIGN EDITOR