SHARELA MAY BONFIELD
EVERYDAY PEOPLE
With the triptych Everyday People, lyrics from protest songs are deconstructed and rearranged with chants from the Black Lives Matter Movement to create a visual sampler inspired by the tradition of music sampling, a foundation in hip hop music. The works are sewn with red, black and, green borders representing the Pan-African flag when displayed together.
Sharela May Bonfield (born 1988, Kingston, Jamaica) is a Brooklyn based artist. Sharela uses textile art as a catalyst to explore the ambiguities of language, popular culture and race.
Songs sampled include:
Everyday People, by Sly & The Family Stone which pleads for peace and equality between differing races and social groups, a major theme and focus for the band.
Mississippi Goddamn written and performed by Nina Simone in response to the 16th Street Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama where four young girls; Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair died.
The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan written in response to the rising tensions in the many political movements and events of the 1960's, such as the civil rights movement, the cold war, the space race, and the Vietnam War.
Hold On (Keep Your Eyes On The Prize) adapted from the African American Spiritual, "Keep Your Hand On The Plow" was sung during the American civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Freedom Highway by The Staple Singers which refers to the murder of Emmett Till at Tallahatchie River.
Decades ago these songs called for change, change that many BIOPIC are still calling for today.
MOURNING QUILT
Mourning, is the hand-embroidered documentation of people killed by law enforcement in 2016. Historically, mourning quilts are used as tools for healing and to commemorate the deceased. The very act of working on a mourning quilt allows the maker to heal.
Mourning Quilt (2016), 2017. Thread on cotton 59 1/2" x 96 1/2
SAY IT LOUD!
With Say It Loud!, lyrics from protest songs are deconstructed and rearranged with chants from the Black Lives Matter Movement to create a visual sampler inspired by the tradition of music sampling, a foundation in hip hop music.
Say It Loud! (Triptych), 2020. Cotton and thread on jean fabric and silk organza 41" x 117 1/2”
Songs sampled include:
Lift Every Voice and Sing, written originally as a poem by James Weldon Johnson in 1899. It is often referred to as the “Black National Anthem” and is known as one of the songs for the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud, by James Brown is most popularly associated with the Black is Beautiful Movement.
The title Freedom Highway, by The Staple Singers refers to the murder of Emmett Till at the Tallahatchie River.
Get Up, Stand Up, by The Wailers Band is about taking action to avoid oppression.