![]() It was part of a larger body of work that explored entertainment and the sport of boxing, specifically highlighting boxing’s exploitation of violence as entertainment, black bodies, and cultural identity. In 1993 I made a piece entitled Everforward, a double play on Nkrumah’s phrase and the Everlast brand of boxing equipment. On one level, its meaning and implication are obvious, but it has a deeper significance to folks from the West Indies. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first prime minister and president, but was adopted and used by many in the Islands. “Forward ever, backward never” is a phrase that, for as long as I can remember, most West Indians not only used but also lived by. Often my grandmother would say, “Walk good.” And when she would call me from a different room and I would say, “I’m coming,” she would always respond with, “Stop coming and COME!” I’ll never forget what that meant to my sister and I, and what my parents had to go through to help us become who we are today. ![]() Like many immigrant kids, our parents worked multiple jobs in order to provide for us. ![]() We were constantly hearing, “We came to this country for you to have XYZ,” but at the same time we were-and are-very proud of where we came from. The values of honor and respect were paramount in forming who my sister and I are, as my parents believed these qualities shaped one’s character-something that is extremely important to any working-class immigrant. I grew up in a West Indian household, a first-generation child of immigrants. Revisiting a ’90s Artwork in Light of 2017’s Political Realities
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |