Artist : Activist

"You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 16:47:47 -0400

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.”

- Maya Angelou

Joseph Xavier-Mack performing at Spoken Notes. Amsterdam, NL

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 07:28:06 -0400

Joseph Xavier-Mack performing at Spoken Notes. Amsterdam, NL

" Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds."

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:40:34 -0400

“” Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.””

- Franklin Roosevelt

I want to be more adventurous like my brother Joseph! Hitchhiked...

Sat, 06 Aug 2011 09:56:58 -0400

I want to be more adventurous like my brother Joseph! Hitchhiked thru five countries in five days with Valo, Evren (the bear) and Aya (the drum).

Valerie Levant “Try Poetry” Photography By: Joi M....

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 13:23:53 -0400

Valerie Levant
“Try Poetry”
Photography By: Joi M. Sears

"There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination."

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 10:13:48 -0400

“There are no days in life so memorable as those which vibrated to some stroke of the imagination.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Joi is performing at this month’s “Spoken...

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 08:03:16 -0400

Joi is performing at this month’s “Spoken Notes” so if you are in the Amsterdam area, be there or be square! #Amsterdamage

"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls."

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:39:40 -0400

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

Joseph Xavier-Mack and Valo Pimeässä Den Haag,...

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:05:31 -0400

Joseph Xavier-Mack and Valo Pimeässä
Den Haag, Netherlands
Photography By: Joi M. Sears

Audio

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 11:03:17 -0400

So Afrika!

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 07:44:20 -0400

Bus Driver: Goedenavond. Mozambique?
Joi: New York.
Bus Driver: That's a big difference!
Joi: o_O

Cheyenne Sabrina “I Recall” via Creative Control TV I am...

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 07:10:57 -0400

Cheyenne Sabrina

“I Recall”

via Creative Control TV

I am working with the artists living/working at Heesterveld to develop an artist retreat here in Amsterdam this coming November. We have been discussing reaching out specifically to poets and of course I thought of my friend Cheyenne. I love this piece on creative control TV which was developed as a part of the Black Artist as Activist program. Trying to get the most amazing spirits and creative individuals in the room…

Heesterveld | The "H-Spot"

Sun, 31 Jul 2011 07:06:49 -0400

Heesterveld | The "H-Spot":

Heesterveld is de nieuwe hotspot in de Bijlmer waar creatieve ondernemers en ondernemende creatieven wonen en werken om hun talenten, ondernemerschap en kunsten te ontwikkelen en te etaleren.

Heesterveld is the new hotspot in the Bijlmer where creative entrepreneurs and enterprising creatives live and work for their talents, skills and entrepreneurship in the arts and to develop and showcase.

Heesterveld Artist Residency | The...

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 10:55:53 -0400

Heesterveld Artist Residency | The “H-Spot”
Photography By: Joseph Xavier-Mack

"Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another."

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:46:33 -0400

“Freeing yourself was one thing; claiming ownership of that freed self was another.”

- Toni Morrison (via ankhfyre)

Teresa Maria Diaz | “Hommage à Sara Bartman A fellow...

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:37:04 -0400

Teresa Maria Diaz | “Hommage à Sara Bartman

A fellow artist : activist in the Black Europe course in Amsterdam, Teresa Maria Diaz invited me over for coffee and I had the opportunity to hear a little more about her work. Teresa was born in the Dominican Republic and has been living in Holland for the past eight years. She is currently studying Black Face Performativity and I was incredibly fascinated by her work with the “The Venus Hottentot”. A performance artist but also an incredible visual artist, Teresa informs me that she constructs all of her costumes by hand.

Hommage à Sara Bartman/Homenaje a Sara Bartman

“Hommage à Sara Bartman”, Graduation Show, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, July 2007/“Homenaje a Sara Bartman”, Show de Graduación, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Amsterdam, Los Países Bajos, Julio del 2007.

Sara Bartman who is more commonly known as the Venus Hottentot a South African Khoisan woman who was brought to England to be exhibited in 1810, her genitals and buttocks were far beyond the understanding of what most Europeans at that time considered a human body in that sense connecting “humanity” with their race solely, she was considered almost like an animal and being exposed like an object. After her death her genitals and her brain were kept, as well as a wax model of her body and her skeleton were exposed in the Musée de l’Homme in France. This performance is the result of an investigation on the black performing body, and how blackness has become an act in itself, wearing her body as a skin was a solution to disguise myself and at the same time become myself through the other. The reason why Sara Bartman has become an icon for the African people in Africa and in the diaspora as well as for European people, is a reaction to the registered and legitimate scientific and voyeuristic rape of her body. The verticality of the sculptures and monuments that glorify the heroic acts of man is now simply the body of an African woman, silent, erect, awake.

Audio

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:35:59 -0400

The Sag.

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:28:00 -0400

By: Joi M. Sears

Morning.
After pushing the snooze button a few times on what I call the most annoying alarm ever... he's up and out like a firecracker.
Curtains open. Sunlight in. Music blasting.
"The Fire" by the Roots.
He's bobbing his head and freestyling over the top of the beat..

He moves through the house like a hurricane.. pure energy.
cleaning, consuming, fixing, organizing.. preparing for the day.
He showers, irons and makes a few phone calls.

Finally he touches me gently on the ankle,
"Hey Sleepyhead."
I turn over and pull the covers over my head.
"Got a lot to do today. Let's move. We gotta be quick."
"We just went to sleep a few hours ago.." I mumble under my breath.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing."
"Speak up!" I told you about that. Communication!
I reply with an exhale.
He smiles.
We have this exchange at least ten times a day. I never seem to express myself in a way that he approves.

Kitchell Samuel, the Sag, artist/activist/entrepreneur, founder of Architect the Future, a multi-media lifestyle brand that promotes freedom, knowledge and personal responsibility.

Life Is What You Make It.

Apparently he's also a member of the sleepless elite,
those fortunate few who require very little sleep but seem to have boundless energy.
"I have super powers." he explains to me. I believe him.
"I can tap into this hidden source."
The energy is infectious, even enough to motivate this coffee crazed New Yorker to start to maybe think about getting up.

Now dressed, He catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror and poses for a minute.
He picks up a newsboy cap and tries it on. Takes it off.
He picks up a fitted cap and tries it on.
Which one do you like better?
I point to the fitted.
Where are we going anyway?

I flashback to the night before. Well actually just a few hours earlier.
Talking, working, creating until the sky turned from indigo to a pale blue..
Until the lights flickered on at the Bullewijk metro stop..
Until the ducks began to fetch breakfast..
Until the Sun finally greets us with her presence.

He's just finished editing a promo video of Red Man for Blackstereo.tv
"I think I need to breathe more."
this is the most relaxed I've seen him all day.
I agree.

I stare out the window.
What are you thinking about?
What are you experiencing right now?
"I'm writing it down" I reply.
You can read about it later.

Architect The Future

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:02:00 -0400

“You’re An Interesting Character…”

Kitchell Samuel

Photography By: Joi M. Sears

www.architectthefuture.eu

www.wots-art.blogspot.com

www.blackstereo.tv

"I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh."

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 08:10:21 -0400

“I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh.”

- Maya Angelou