This little guide starts out as the career story of a young black art history major from private liberal arts women's college Smith. Kimberly Drew navigates academic coursework with part-time jobs, internships and gallery opportunities while also creating, curating and providing content for a contemporary black art blog on Tumblr. She was at work at a new job as an assistant at a privately owned art gallery for ten days when Eric Garner was killed in the New York City borough of Staten Island and when about three weeks later Michael Brown was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri.
The profound effects of these events and more in 2014 moved Kimberly to call for art in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. In that moment, she began to understand how art and activism could work together to produce a collective voice and shared community. The original focus of her book was on art and activism and she manages to merge that goal while providing a brief primer on contemporary black art, experiencing black art and next steps.
If you are looking for a bite-sized information-packed book that is just the right size for slipping into your pocket or beach bag, give this one and others from the Pocket Change Collective a try. The series includes topics on leading a grassroots political campaign, environmental activism and immigration, navigating the foster care system, and more. Titles include:
- Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon
- Concrete Kids by Amyra León
- Imaginary Borders by Xiuhtezcatl Martinez
- The New Queer Conscience by Adam Eli
- Taking on the Plastics Crisis by Hannah Testa