Barbed issue #07, Southwest Detroit, winter 2018-2019, cover image by
Max Majoros, Igloo, 16 x 20 inches (40.64 x 50.8 cm.) Watercolor & an ink brush. 2018
Barbed Magazine is proud to announce the latest issue entitled “Southwest Detroit” with the support by the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Southwest Airlines, and the Surdna Foundation through a grant from the NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant Program. And by a Red Bull Arts Detroit Micro-Grant.
Southwest Detroit issue #07, featured artists:
Sacramento Knoxx
Elton Monroy Duran
Leslie Rogers
Luke Maddaford
Max Majaros
Ziquita Riberdy
Josué Emmanuel Fierro
Karilú Alarcón Forshee
Preview
THE AADIZOOKAAN
Sacramento Knoxx, studio visit by Arturo Herrera, preview, page 8
Sacramento Knoxx at his recording studio, 2019.
Sacramento Knoxx is a hardworking interdisciplinary artist creating music and film, with strong Detroit roots.
He produces a sound of electronic,indigenous, ghettotech, afro-latino, hip hop, soul, rhythm & blues. Knoxx is musically involved in all aspects, playing, curating and producing sound while making visuals or images
to capture further emotions and ideas that work with the music intentionally. With his versatile background with different forms of music, it allows him to blend traditional and contemporary styles, while constantly trying out new frameworks to create music and film that work together rather than separate practices.
He produces a sound of electronic,indigenous, ghettotech, afro-latino, hip hop, soul, rhythm & blues. Knoxx is musically involved in all aspects, playing, curating and producing sound while making visuals or images
to capture further emotions and ideas that work with the music intentionally. With his versatile background with different forms of music, it allows him to blend traditional and contemporary styles, while constantly trying out new frameworks to create music and film that work together rather than separate practices.
Knoxx has built community
concerts and workshops that engaged many audiences in public spaces all around the city of Detroit. Currently, he travels nationally and internationally sharing interactive music performances, blending captured moments in life & creative imagery through large projection motion graphics. Building from raw experience and grit his works send vibrations to help assemble the worlds we want to live in. In addition to creating these dynamic storytelling installations, he creates documentary film and music video encapsulating the experience of struggle and celebration of diverse layers of communities.
concerts and workshops that engaged many audiences in public spaces all around the city of Detroit. Currently, he travels nationally and internationally sharing interactive music performances, blending captured moments in life & creative imagery through large projection motion graphics. Building from raw experience and grit his works send vibrations to help assemble the worlds we want to live in. In addition to creating these dynamic storytelling installations, he creates documentary film and music video encapsulating the experience of struggle and celebration of diverse layers of communities.
Arturo Herrera (AH): Can you describe the physical space we are in right now.
Sacramento Knoxx (SK):This is the temporary location for The Aadizookaan headquarters we currently renovating a building & space for the community-based art practices - when I say art - we specialize in music, film, video production design, and storytelling. The building is coming soon, and we will have studios where we will continue to craft our art excellence and just work on community-based projects as well. We are crafting studio spaces for people to work and do their art, as well as work with people at many different levels for
installations and other great work that seeks innovation. Currently, we are in a local house in Southwest Detroit where we are at a temporary location until we scale our project which is down the street on Livernois. It’s a small function, but it works as our light space in the basement where there are different ways to create work. We do video and film, and
photography, and design and web design & graphics. Today is a Tuesday, so one of our artist members Kaz is here, and he is just here working on some music.
My schedule today is just paperwork, errands, and to get out of the studio day, so I was out running those errands today for the office, daily tasks & visits with people.
When I say community, we also have an international and national community, we just had one of our friends on tour, she is coming from Toronto, and she stayed the night, but she is on a music tour. Our community has layers; we have our South West Detroit community, the music community inside Detroit, and our music community from around the country and the world. There are different layers of community we work with.
AH: When you say, “We” can you talk who is “We.”
SK: “We” is referring to “The Aadizookaan,” which is a word from the original language here in Detroit (Ojibwe/Anishinaabmowin) meaning the stories of the people. It is one of the hundreds of languages across Turtle Island specific to people groups and land bases. We acknowledge and use this traditional language to uplift our history, acknowledging this country was built from the killing of Native people and enslavement of Africans while celebrating our resilience and culture that transcends time and struggle. The direct translation of Aadizookaan is “sacred spirit of the story.” It is storytelling practice that belongs to the people and acknowledges a sort of magic or energy that positively comes through the storytelling. This energy is important to us as we build with contemporary tools of music, film, and design to bring a positive impact to our collective wellness and communities. We are also building new and emergent ways of supporting one another by being a hybrid organization that does small business, uplifting working artists and their projects, designs, and creations while also providing support to the community through co-creation, sharing our skills, and uplifting underheard stories.
Luke Maddaford
The Impossibility of Being More or Less Specific (2017)
Page 16
The Impossibility of Being More or Less Specific (2017) is an exploration of the history of queer space in Windsor. Emerging out of an interest in the fluctuating function, designation, and use of space, and the history of queer occupancy in the region, this project explores sites which are currently, or have previously been, designated as queer spaces or have been otherwise queered through active occupation and use by queer people.
This project highlights the ongoing struggle for the queer community to make space for itself in a heteronormative society, the transient nature of queer space, and the continuous and often unnoticed presence of queer people throughout history.
Additionally, the work explores the differing ways in which queer people situate themselves within small or rural cities and challenge the narrative that they need to live within large metropolitan centres in order to live fulfilling open lives.
This work was originally created for the exhibition Downtown/s: Urban Renewal Today for Tomorrow, curated by Jaclyn Meloche at the Art Gallery of Windsor in Windsor, ON.
The Impossibility of Being More or Less Specific, 2017.
Installation view, Art Gallery of Windsor, in Canada.
Image courtesy of the artist.
Collaborative Performance by:
Karilú Alarcón Forshee,
Leslie Rogers, and
Elton Monroy Durán.
Hosted by
The Mexican Town Latino Cultural Center.
Leslie Rogers, Red Flag, performance art. Image by Ashley Ward.By David Morales, Editorial Intern
For decades, Southwest Detroit has been home to a vibrant and dynamic community known as Mexican Town. It is a place where Latino populations have thrived alongside industry and entrepreneurship. However, it is no secret that Mexican Town has fallen on hard times. With the anti-immigration sentiment and a new wave of gentrification in the area, community members are left with a legacy in the midst of a new elitist culture. To make sure their heritage survives, the Mexican Town Community Development Organization has a plan.
Two years ago, the Mexican Town Latino Cultural Center was created with the purpose to preserve and promote Latino art and culture and to provide a venue for the arts in Southwest Detroit. But it is much more than that. It is a reaction to the gentrification in the area and a safe place to learn and discuss Latino culture. They have exhibited the works of Latino artists, photographers, poets, and musicians. Most recently to promote the seventh issue of Barbed Magazine.
The Cultural Center featured artists Karilú Forshee in (LA MUJER, An Ode to Women), Leslie Rogers (Red Flag), and Elton Monroy Durán (Las Soldaderas).
In her Red Flag performance, Rogers demonstrates the physical and emotional consequences of urban redevelopment, revealing viscerally how policy translates to everyday life. “It is pervasive throughout American culture that regardless of social position or political identity, people see red flags and warning signs for the future that are invalidated or not acted upon.”
The event showcased Las Soldaderas or Adelitas, who were women in the military who participated in the Mexican Revolution. According to Forshee, LA MUJER, An Ode to Women is a song about resistance that symbolizes the emergence of obscurity. “It is a symbol of what the women in my family have gone through and still do, and I’m tremendously inspired by mother and grandmother. The performance is a tribute to all of their work and strength.”
In his mural, Durán captures the juxtaposition between the fight against cultural disfranchisement and the power that represents oppressive policies in Southwest Detroit that are tearing apart the community. It depicts Southwest Detroit’s cityscape along with the martyrs of Las Soldaderas posthumously looking over the community. “I always try to incorporate things that show some aspect of the community that are not always visible. It is important for the people to understand that the murals are for them and way to connect to the community.”
At the Mexican Town Latino Cultural Center, the artists explored the multidimensional constructs of power. The power that uplifts and purifies and the power that seeks to dominate and eradicate. As Detroit undergoes urban renewal, it is subjected to displacement which is at the heart of
Barbed Magazine’s seventh issue as we seek to explore creative expression through collaboration and activating spaces, works, and ideas within the context of performance.
Two years ago, the Mexican Town Latino Cultural Center was created with the purpose to preserve and promote Latino art and culture and to provide a venue for the arts in Southwest Detroit. But it is much more than that. It is a reaction to the gentrification in the area and a safe place to learn and discuss Latino culture. They have exhibited the works of Latino artists, photographers, poets, and musicians. Most recently to promote the seventh issue of Barbed Magazine.
The Cultural Center featured artists Karilú Forshee in (LA MUJER, An Ode to Women), Leslie Rogers (Red Flag), and Elton Monroy Durán (Las Soldaderas).
In her Red Flag performance, Rogers demonstrates the physical and emotional consequences of urban redevelopment, revealing viscerally how policy translates to everyday life. “It is pervasive throughout American culture that regardless of social position or political identity, people see red flags and warning signs for the future that are invalidated or not acted upon.”
The event showcased Las Soldaderas or Adelitas, who were women in the military who participated in the Mexican Revolution. According to Forshee, LA MUJER, An Ode to Women is a song about resistance that symbolizes the emergence of obscurity. “It is a symbol of what the women in my family have gone through and still do, and I’m tremendously inspired by mother and grandmother. The performance is a tribute to all of their work and strength.”
In his mural, Durán captures the juxtaposition between the fight against cultural disfranchisement and the power that represents oppressive policies in Southwest Detroit that are tearing apart the community. It depicts Southwest Detroit’s cityscape along with the martyrs of Las Soldaderas posthumously looking over the community. “I always try to incorporate things that show some aspect of the community that are not always visible. It is important for the people to understand that the murals are for them and way to connect to the community.”
At the Mexican Town Latino Cultural Center, the artists explored the multidimensional constructs of power. The power that uplifts and purifies and the power that seeks to dominate and eradicate. As Detroit undergoes urban renewal, it is subjected to displacement which is at the heart of
Barbed Magazine’s seventh issue as we seek to explore creative expression through collaboration and activating spaces, works, and ideas within the context of performance.