Andre barker jr.
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Utilizing visual motifs such as color, lighting, and symbolism, I highlight the surreal quality of being a person of color, focusing on the aftermath of trauma rather than the trauma itself. My objective is to convey vulnerability rather than strength, humanizing my subjects by distilling their essence in each painting. The performance and frequently repressed Blackness in environments marked by hate, misunderstanding, and fear enables my work to visualize the surreal and alienating core of the Black Experience. I am exposing the stress and anxiety resulting from the weight of the performance and Black excellence that causes a state of heightened awareness of self.
artist's statement
Collaboration
Unwoven Between the Disciplines: I.
I stay modest 'bout it, ayy, she elaborate it, ayy — Kendrick Lamar, “Humble.”
Unwoven Between the Disciplines: I reimagines how the arts and humanities are conversing within human experience, exploring the entanglements and fray threading discipline relations. For this inaugural collaboration, Afro-Surreal defiance resonates in painter Andre Barker Jr.'s “It’s Just Hair” and is transformed into “eschewed respectability” in Ola Faleti’s poem “The Un-Cursing of Medusa.” Not simply verbalizing, not only amplifying the moods, interactions, conflicts, and symbols embedded in Barker Jr’s painting, Faleti enchants with her deft control over how visual and auditory imagery morph from one to the other, creating dynamic interaction. In this issue, Faleti and Barker Jr. use Ekphrasis as the collaborative framework, typically understood as a poetic form that responds to visual art. Broadened into an interdisciplinary nexus, ekphrasis held out the mystery of their interaction. We are honored to present to you their artistry.
The uncursing of medusa
They call me a monster like they don’t want me. Like a set of sharp tongues won’t thrill.
Like snakes don’t have syrup in their songs. I was winged, once. Me and my sisters and
our lolling tongues. Back when we played cards and hopscotched across seas. They say they
don’t want my ruin. I know how to hush a heart still. How to ease dread with a little
caress. Some molasses to go with the vinegar. Some water to chase the dark liquor. Tell me
my hiss is too loud. Like my soft slang means something. My power of mouth. The incantations
that spill: from the blood that spurts /turn this bitch into stone / turn myself into worship / keep
your altar, got my own.
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Ola faleti
Ola Faleti is an artist and arts educator raised & based in Chicago. Her work has appeared in TriQuarterly, The Chicago Reader, Jet Fuel Review, and elsewhere. Her self-published fiction chapbook, Soft & Solid, was released in October 2024. Curriculum for Ola’s workshop with 826CHI, “Poets in Revolt!” was distributed nationally and birthed an anthology of youth writing. She’s currently a Poet-In-Residence with the Chicago Poetry Center. Her favorite number is nine, and she believes there’s no such thing as too many flowers.
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