- This is a production of WEDU PBS Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Dalia] Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay.

In this edition of WEBU Arts Plus, on location at the Sarasota Art Museum, a local photographer uses his art to explore identity.

- [Jesse] One of the biggest things in my photography is the gesture, taking inspiration from my experience in ballet.

So kind of like a, {\an1}you know sort of upright, {\an1}and soft sort of movement.

- [Dalia] One artist's journey of art and activism.

- [DJ] He was very active in the political scene.

{\an1}He was very conscious of social issues at the time, he was very close with the Harlem Renaissance, and worked with kind of WPA muralists.

So the, the connection between art and activism {\an1}has always run through Donaldson's life and work.

{\an1}- [Dalia] A theater company through the years.

- [Shirley] The biggest impact is that the presentations that we bring to the stage.

It's the plays.

It's the playwrights.

- [Dalia] And graffiti jewelry.

- [Brenda] Whoever touched it had her own mind, {\an1}and train of thought when she put it together, so each piece is uniquely different.

And I think that's our style.

- It's all coming up next on WEDU Arts Plus.

(upbeat music) {\an1}- Hello, I'm Dalia Colon, and this is WEDU Arts Plus.

When photographer Jesse Clark gets behind the camera, he finds himself.

See how this student at Ringling College of Art and Design uses his craft to examine Black male identity.

(mellow music) - [Jesse] It's easy to be put in this box, and it's easy for a lot of people to tell you who you are, or who you're supposed to be.

And often that is limiting, 'cause no one knows you better than you know yourself.

Awesome, amazing.

I'm Jesse Clark.

{\an1}I am a third-year student at Ringling College of Art and Design.

I major in photography and imaging.

All right, I'm gonna go a little closer on you.

So I was born in Haiti.

I was adopted in 2003.

So I grew up in Lakeland, Florida in a family of four brothers.

And my mom homeschooled all of us.

And so during my homeschool year, so elementary, she kind of introduced me to like the masterworks.

Having me study both paintings, DaVinci, or Van Gogh, Rembrandt, things like that.

And that kind of was what introduced me into art overall, and so I started that journey becoming a painter, and an illustrator, and when I got to high school is when I picked up the camera and started exploring that.

And that opened new doors for me, capturing the world in a whole completely different way for me.

- [Thomas] Jesse is not only incredibly talented as a technician, everything he did very early he kinda mastered the lighting, and the fundamentals of, of picture making, and he then moved into subject matter.

Very specific issues that I think he gives a very fresh, and contemporary take on identity.

Specifically Black identity within the context that we're in right now.

{\an1}- One of my biggest series and something that's a turning point for me was a series that I titled, "Through Dark Eyes."

And so that's a series that I worked with my friend Jordan George, who I'm here with today.

And that was exploring how I see myself.

So there are images like the pink background that he was showing like the softer vulnerable side.

{\an1}The images with the floral face mask as well.

Also kind of this idea of the Black male carrying a beautiful image.

I have experience in ballet.

{\an1}So learning to, you know, be strong, but also sort of kind of land softer.

And so when I am representing the Black male, I'm thinking about the side that's a little softer, the side that you don't typically see in movies and things which they always show the aggressive, the jock, or even sometimes criminal.

So showing okay how are we really a soft person, the creatives, you know, welcoming.

So one of the biggest things in my photography is the gesture, taking inspiration from my experience in ballet.

So kind of like a, you know, sort of upright, {\an1}and soft sort of movement.

- [Jordan] I love that Jesse knows what he wants to see.

{\an1}I love that he can help me figure out how to position my hands, contort my body left and right, how to control my face, and my overall demeanor for his projects, it really helps a lot with what I want to do with modeling and stuff.

It helps me learn my body more.

It's just a very comfortable space.

He makes it very comfortable.

He'll talk to you about you and {\an1}you're just as much a part of his piece as he is so it's your world that you share with him.

It's very fun.

- Clothes I always get from Goodwill.

Formal clothes, often kind of earthy tones, pastels, and silks, and velvets as well.

So something we typically don't see the Black male being represented in.

Along with that, I often shop in the women's section of Goodwills too.

Looking at blazers, button downs, and sort of more floral tops as well.

- [Jordan] For Jesse to be doing this, and for me to be one of his muses, {\an1}to help push this forward, I want any Black person, especially Black boys you know like, "Hey you can wear this if you think it's cool.

Don't, it's not that deep."

Like you're like you can express yourself how you wanna express yourself, and people always gonna say something.

- [Jesse] I think that's kind of the struggles that I, and maybe some friends have, is being judged before people get to know us.

And even during photo shoots, we've had that issue as well.

(upbeat music) {\an1}You know, I make the joke, like we are dressed like Shakespeare in the park photographing at this tennis court, but someone had an issue with our presence there, and we were, you know, dressed very nicely, and we'd think that that would change their thoughts on us, but you know, that's not always the case.

There's that fear there I know that I can be feared by others, and that's certainly what I, what I don't want.

Having that comparison, especially like to my, some of my brothers who are white, so how we navigate life a little differently.

So growing up in that family, and kind of noticing those differences {\an1}is kind of what drove me to produce work like this.

- [Thomas] Photography matters today because it tells us about ourselves.

Yes, everybody has cameras on their phone, but the art side of it is a little different, because art means you have to stand for something.

You have to put something on the line to talk about issues.

And in terms of Jesse, that's always involves quite a bit of courage actually, to speak about issues that matter to you.

(upbeat music) - I think it's really important, especially right now I feel like a lot of men in a lot of spaces, and a lot of spaces in art, are breaking the molds of what it is to be a man, and I really think that's important, {\an1}especially for a Black man to see that I can be vulnerable, {\an1}to see that I can be soft, and I don't have to be tough all the time, to know that it's okay to cry.

This body of work, these pieces of work that Jesse is creating right now, are going to help a lot of kids in the future.

- [Jesse] Now representation is important because there's so much we can learn about other people.

And I certainly can't speak fully on a whole other group of people, {\an1}but I can speak on myself.

And if that helps another person, then I'm doing something right.

1, 2, 3.

- [Dalia] See more at jesseclarkart.com.

At the height of the Black Power movement in the mid-sixties, Jeff Donaldson was among those who sought change through art.

An exhibit, "Jeff Donaldson: Dig," at the Akron Art Museum, reveals his lifelong commitment to equality.

- [Theresa] He was really interested in creating images of Black people that could be appreciated by a Black audience.

Jeff Donaldson is originally from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

He studied art at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, {\an1}and then moved to Chicago, {\an1}where he earned both an a master's degree in art, {\an1}and also a PhD in African, and African American art history at Northwestern University.

He's a practicing artist and also, or he was I'm sorry, he passed away in 2004.

And was also a founding member of Africobra.

{\an1}Africobra started in 1968.

- [DJ] Africobra is the African commute of bad relevant artists.

And bad being very overt and kind of I think maybe antagonistic to what defines good.

So it was a way to bring people together to kind of define a unifying aesthetic, and then to help those artists kind of present their work in different ways.

Being in Chicago in the sixties, he was very active in the political scene, and he was very conscious of social issues at the time, he studied he was very close with the Harlem Renaissance, and worked with kind of WPA muralists.

So the connection between art and activism {\an1}was has always run through Donaldson's life and work.

He was using art as a vehicle, kind of using art as a message machine to talk about race relations in America.

Kool-Aid colors was one of the, you know, kind of unifying principles.

{\an1}For Africobra, it was kind of about beauty in action.

So it was about artwork that was meant to be legible, and readable, {\an1}and accessible to people.

They were very interested in kind of mass-producing images so that they were kind of easily understood, and that they, they were kind of acting as art, and propaganda at the same time.

So kind of agitprop kind of, kind of philosophy.

- [Theresa] He outlined a lot of the principles that kind of aesthetically grouped these artists together.

Those include a number of things, like expressive awesomeness, this idea of shine, and Jeff Donaldson meant that literally in the sense of shine.

If you look at his work, he has quite a bit of metallic paint and surfaces, but he also means it in a sense of shine and attractiveness {\an1}and well-polished things, and well put together things.

He's also interested in rhythm.

He's interested in repetition.

He's interested in bright Kool-Aid colors.

And those are just a few of the things that he outlines in this essay.

They all were interested in finding a shared aesthetic that they could use to promote their message and to create work that appealed to African Americans, {\an1}and also told their story, and was something that could be appreciated {\an1}just by looking at it for, for its pure aesthetic quality.

{\an1}And you didn't have to have a PhD in art history like Donaldson did in order to appreciate the work.

They thought of themselves as a family.

They thought of themselves as a united group, {\an1}but they also had their own individual identities, and their own individual practices.

Jeff Donaldson in particular, when he talks about this he talks about the art that was being made by Black artists around the time of before the formation of Africobra not having the same kind of as aesthetic rigor that Africobra members wanted to put into their work.

And that was really important to him that all the members have a certain quality.

They held themselves to certain standards aesthetically.

- [DJ] It is really kind of heady material, but it plays out in the realm of everyday.

And his grassroots activism laid the foundation for that.

{\an1}So he's a very smart man, but he also understood what it meant to communicate to the masses, to communicate to people who weren't as well-educated as he was.

So, so as he was looking at kind of the influence of Western art on the development of American art, he was also trying to insert kind of a Pan-African aesthetic into the work at the same time.

He was trying to say, trying to really develop a more encompassing iconography of American art, and his work was was definitely with the intent that it would be for a populous audience.

Art for the people.

Art for the masses is kind of, you know, one of the, one of kind of Donaldson's mantras, you know, and all art is political, whether you know it or not.

"Whether the artist knows it or not," I think is the quote that Donaldson said.

So even if you're not intending the message to be political, it's political.

And so that was one of, kind of Donaldson's central tenants.

- [Dalia] For more exhibitions, {\an1}visit akronartmuseum.org.

Formed in 1971, M Ensemble Company is the longest running African American professional theater company in Florida.

With their productions, they bring impactful stories to the stage for audiences to experience.

{\an1}- She gave me her recipe.

(audience laughing) - [Shirley] My name is Shirley Richardson, and I am the co-founder, and executive director of M Ensemble Company.

We are the oldest, {\an1}not just African American theater company, but the oldest theater company here in Miami-Dade County.

(upbeat music) M Ensemble Company started in 1971.

{\an1}That's a long, long story.

(Shirley laughs) Under the direction and founder, the late T.G.

Cooper.

And he decided to come to the University of Miami, and pick up his master's degree.

And while he was there, he had to do a project called "Pearly Victorious," and he needed a Black cast, and a white cast.

Unfortunately, there weren't many Black students on campus at the University of Miami during that time, I think there were about three of us.

So he recruited the three of us.

T.G.

left, but before he left, he left some money, and he left a, a staff in place.

And we maintained that relationship with him, you know, until his passing.

We're here now at the Sandrell Rivers Theater, {\an1}after being bounced around from one place to another.

I can't even tell you how many places we've been.

There've been so many you know, trying to keep up the legacy.

(chorus singing) Being in this space, it allows the company to show the audience the technical aspects, because in many places that we've been in, we have not been able to really see it like we really want to see it, you know.

When we did "Kings of Harlem," we had all these seats were out, {\an1}and they were can form into a basketball stadium.

The space was set up, you know, {\an1}to give you that ambiance, you know, being back in that time in this old stadium where the first basketball, Black basketball team played, and the story behind all of that.

But the biggest impact is that the presentations that we bring to the stage, it's the plays, it's the playwrights, you know, the play plays that people never heard of, stories that they never heard of.

These are the stories, these are our stories, these are our words, and so that's important.

It's a lot of work, but you know, it's the passion that keep us going.

And hopefully when it's time to pass that torch, we would be able to identify those people who has that same kind of passion, and willing to make the sacrifices to keep it going.

You know, we are 50 years old now, so that is a legacy, {\an1}and we are an institution.

♪ Da-du, da-du, da-du day ♪ ♪ Da-du, da-du, da-du ♪ - [Dalia] Learn more at themensemble.com.

In this segment, meet the creative team behind Rebel Nell.

This social enterprise is based in Detroit, Michigan, where artists design one-of-a-kind graffiti jewelry.

(uplifting music) - [Amy] One of our number one rules at Rebel Nell is that you never fall in love with the top layer, it's really what's underneath that's important.

- [Nechelle] Graffiti is just paint over, painted over, painted over, {\an1}and you have these layers, and everyone has these layers, and once you peel 'em back, you see different sides of people, different backgrounds, different things that they've been through.

- Whoever touched it had her own mind, {\an1}and train of thought when she put it together.

So each piece is uniquely different, and I think that's our style.

- [Amy] Rebel Nell started in around March of 2013.

Where I was living in Detroit was right next door to COTS.

COTS is the, an amazing organization here in the city which is abbreviated for the Coalition on Temporary Shelter, it's a women and family-only shelter.

And I would have conversations with the women, and, you know, I learned that these are incredible women who so often left challenging situations in search of a better opportunity, even if it meant going to the shelter.

And this was my sort of like a-ha moment.

And I asked my business partner at the time, I said, "What if we could provide all the wrap-around services sort of a teach a woman to fish concept, and then what if we could come up with a product that we could employ them that we could sell that would then provide all the wrap-around services."

And then really the concept for Rebel Nell was born then.

{\an1}My business partner and I, {\an1}Diana had we both had some jewelry making background, and so we thought, "What if we could create some Detroit-centric jewelry, that would you know, {\an1}really pay tribute to the city that we live in, and also, you know, become something cool to wear."

{\an1}And then it wasn't until a run on the Dequindre Cut when I saw some graffiti on the ground, and you know that was the light bulb moment for the jewelry.

- With every piece of jewelry I create, I put love, energy, affection.

- [Amy] The evolution of Rebel Nell is so much credit is with the actual design team, and taking their thoughts and considerations into how we've changed or evolved our process, they're really to be credited for the quality that it is today.

- [Nechelle] You actually have creative control.

So you can choose your piece of graffiti, and it's all about the person who's making it, because each one is different, and it's based on our personality.

- [Brenda] We start off with metal sheet, and we draw our shapes on it.

After we cut that out, we put our graffiti on, and that's a, another part that I'm not able to say that how we get that graffiti to pop so beautiful, but we get it on there as pretty as we can get, and then we actually cut, shape, glue, bind.

Then after we get all that part processed, we put this resin on it, which makes it shine.

Then we sand our edges, clip our piece, make the back, polish it, pop it, and then we drill this hole in it to put the chains on, or do our earrings.

We do French hook earrings, post drop earrings, which would come with the ball, and they also dangle.

{\an1}These signature pendants, this is a large piece, we have medium pieces, and then we have really small pieces.

- [Amy] You're wearing a piece of Detroit.

There's a piece of history that we've done a great job of being able to encapsulate, and preserve, and you know, most of the time it's on silver, or brass, depending on, you know, your price point, your interest, but you know, {\an1}you certainly will have a piece that will last you, that you could pass down for generations to come, and, and share in that, that piece of Detroit.

Our true mission of, of why we do Rebel Nell is to provide a transitional opportunity for the women that we hire.

We are looking for women who have a desire to change their situation, {\an1}can work well with others, and a willingness to learn.

One of the things I've learned about, you know running Rebel Nell, and interacting with all of our incredible employees is just, you know how broken the system really is, and especially the challenges if you are, {\an1}you know, a single mother in trying to maintain a job, right?

And you don't have that support system.

- [Brenda] I ended up at COTS because unemployment said they overpaid me four and a half thousand dollars, they garnished me for all of my income taxes, including the unemployment which I was receiving which led to my homelessness.

- Brenda is a blessing for this planet.

There's nobody who has had a more optimistic, and positive attitude, even when life hands her a lot of challenges.

And we've experienced quite a few of those with her.

{\an1}And just to see her put on that face of perseverance.

- [Brenda] Sometimes just the thought of where I come from and to where I'm going could bring a tear to my eye, {\an1}but it's a positive tear.

- [Amy] Nechelle.

She is the like little spark plug that we have here.

Rela she's hilarious.

She's gonna go very far, this is just a stepping stone for her.

- [Nechelle] I seriously am a lot better now than I was.

- [Brenda] We have this TEA program, which is the Teach, Educate, and Achieve.

I didn't consider about credit scores, fixing my accounts, what kind of accounts I could have, secure loans, and all those kind of things were taught to me through the TEA program.

I'll be working on homeownership, which is another thing that the TEA program like working here just opened my eyes to a lot, so I'll be a homeowner really soon.

- [Nechelle] They really helped me become more self-sufficient, and like lead me on a correct path, and stay on it.

{\an1}Like, this is more like a a family setting more than anything and that's why I love it here.

- [Amy] We also think that the women we employ are really rebelling against what life's dealt to them, and, you know, we're dealing with graffiti, which is rebellious in and of itself.

And we also wanted to pay tribute to a woman who was a trailblazer before us, Eleanor Roosevelt, and everything she stood for.

{\an1}Her nickname that her dad gave her was Little Nell.

We think she is certainly worthy of a stronger nickname, and that's how we came up with Rebel Nell.

- [Brenda] Everybody who does graffiti all throughout the city of Detroit before they had these projects was considered rebels.

{\an1}People do look at me who went through homelessness, oh she was rebellious, she didn't follow the rules, she didn't do what she was supposed to do to get there.

So when I get graffiti, I get to change it to something awesome that you never knew somebody that was rebel could do something so great.

{\an1}- [Nechelle] When you look forward to going to work, that's when you know you found you know, your niche.

Like it's, you come in, and we're just happy.

{\an1}- [Brenda] We're cousins.

I tell everybody that, {\an1}that's really what I say.

We are all cousins here, and we share food, ideas, thoughts, it's a plus.

- [Amy] I know that most of the purchasers understand how special a piece of Rebel Nell really is.

And again, going back to not only because it's one of a kind {\an1}and through the cross-section of graffiti, but also because of the woman who made it, {\an1}and what that really is doing to make a difference is really powerful.

It stands that you believe in empowering women, it stands for you believe in promoting equality, and making a difference in this world.

- [Nechelle] We show people that we're women transitioning out of homelessness, and we can do this.

It's never too late to focus on your dreams, {\an1}and do whatever it is you feel like you want to do.

- [Dalia] To find out more, visit rebelnell.com.

And that wraps it up for this edition of WEDU Arts Plus.

{\an1}For more arts and culture, visit wedu.org/artsplus.

Until next time, I'm Dalia Colon.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) {\an1}Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay.