damali ayo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

damali ayo (b. February 26, 1972) is a conceptual and performance artist. Ayo's performances focus on race relations. She prefers her name in lower case.

damali ayo
damali ayo

Contents

[edit] Biography

Ayo was born in Washington, D.C.. She studied Public Policy and American Civilization at Brown University. While at Brown, ayo was the director of the Women In Prison Project. This community involvement project placed undergraduate women as theatre instructors in the Rhode Island women's correctional facility. Ayo was trained as a leadership and diversity facilitator as a young adult and worked for the National Conference for Community and Justice, Rhode Island Branch, where she directed youth programs as well as led workshops for adults on race relations. After working in this field for a while, ayo began her career as an artist by bringing to fruition a work about an experience she had in seventh grade with a particularly racist teacher. When she had created the work she realized that art was the most effective way to reach people with regards to social issues. Her first solo show followed shortly thereafter in 1999. Since then she has explored multiple media to communicate her conceptual messages.

Ayo's work has been shown at galleries across the world. She has spoken to colleges, high schools, non-profits and communities in 20 U.S. states and Canada about race, diversity, art and eco-living.

damali ayo at Clark College, Vancouver, WA
damali ayo at Clark College, Vancouver, WA

Ayo and her work have been featured in over 100 publications world-wide including Salon.com, Harper's, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Independent UK the Village Voice, Seattle Times ,CSPAN2's Book TV and The O'Reilly Factor.

[edit] Artwork

One of ayo's most well known works is the web-art-performance rent-a-negro.com. This satirical web site examines racism in the interactions between black and white people. The site employs parody and satire to engage the viewer in an artificial premise that one could rent a black person for their personal entertainment or to advance their social clout. This work, created in 2003, received over 400,000 hits per day in its first month.

An excerpt from the site reads:

rent-a-negro.com is a state-of-the-arts service that allows you the chance to promote your connection with a creative, articulate, friendly, attractive, and pleasing African American person. This service comes without the commitment of learning about racism, challenging your own white privilege, or being labeled "radical." In fact, rent-a-negro.com allows you to use your money and status to your advantage! In addition, your dollars go to support the development of African American culture...everyone benefits!

In 2005 ayo released How to Rent a Negro.

How to Rent a Negro by damali ayo
How to Rent a Negro by damali ayo

How to Rent a Negro was granted a 2005 Honorable Mention in the Outstanding Book Awards from the Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. Her radio work "Living Flag: Panhandling for Reparations" won a Silver Reel Award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters

In 2006 damali ayo left traditional art gallery representation and named her particular approach to art "Now Art." She describes Now Art as being immediate, accessible and engaging social issues. Much of ayo's Now Art is participatory and free for download from the internet. Ayo believes that, "Art should make you think and feel." She eschews art that is merely for "decoration." She believes that artists' true place is at the forefront of social change movements.

In 2007 ayo created Now Art Grants, to fund and grow artists making the kind of work she values. The program combines small donations of a large number of individuals then grants that money to artists engaged in social change.

On October 10, 2007 will be the launch of ayo's latest project, the 'National Day of Panhandling for Reparations'. This is based on another popular performance work by damali ayo, living flag, where she sits on the street and panhandles for reparations. In this street performance, ayo collects reparations from passing white people and pays them out on the spot to passing black people. The National Day of Panhandling for Reparations invites people across the country to repeat ayo's performance in their communities.

damali ayo panhandling for reparations in Boston
damali ayo panhandling for reparations in Boston

[edit] Radio

Damali ayo has co-produced radio works. In addition, her work has been featured on several episodes of Studio 360, a co-production of Public Radio International and WNYC New York Public Radio.

[edit] Awards

2005 Honorable Mention in the Outstanding Book Awards from the Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights for How to Rent a Negro

2005 Silver Reel Award from the National Federation of Community Broadcasters for her radio work "Living Flag: Panhandling for Reparations"

2001, 2003 Drammy Awards, Outstanding Set Design

2002 Second Prize Juror’s Award, Northwest Annual, Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA)

2002 Individual Artist Fellowship, Oregon Arts Commission

[edit] External links