Quote collection
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"There was something about Beyoncé that felt like a vessel, I guess, that I could kind of impose all of these feelings and thoughts onto. I was drawn to a little bit of a dichotomy between the glamour and celebrity and the very deep and complex legacy of black women, and what that means in terms of performance."
"I liked the idea of using this mega-star [Beyoncé ] to talk about all those things on the tiny scale of my life."
"I guess the only thing I'd say is it ['There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé?'] shouldn't be read as "Beyoncé is not beautiful.""
"I always say that my artist statement is to not be afraid to talk about the messiness - the unpleasant feelings and happenings around my life."
"I try to convey what it feels like and sounds like and smells like and looks like inside of my particular skin, to move through the world as a black American woman in her mid-twenties."
"Language from songs and TV shows feel integral because it helps to create the environment and describe the full picture."
"So much of the world and the systems that we live within are made to keep us from feeling like we're free. The way that black women in American came to be is just diametrically opposed to being free."
"The book [There are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé?] is quite complex, and I was worried that it would be marketed as one-sided or flat, and I knew that Mickalene's [Tomas] work would be able to encompass all the many states of being that are in the book."
"There's something about us using the word fascism and thinking about, "What is it? What does it mean, and what are the tenets of it?" I've been thinking a lot about folks denying what has happened in history, or just not acknowledging it. I think there's something that's fascist, and something that I think we could probably learn from, in terms of the energy in the world right now."
"I've been thinking a lot about folks denying what has happened in history, or just not acknowledging it."
"There's something about us using the word fascism and thinking about, "What is it? What does it mean, and what are the tenets of it?"."
"Art movements are always linked to some kind of turmoil. We can look at history and see that [political turmoil is] fertile ground for art. I also think that it gives artists something, a way of kind of processing. My friends and I have all been super motivated to work and to do the work that we need to and want to and think should be in the world. Hard times are really a fire under your ass to prioritize and think, "Okay, how can I challenge myself to put something in the world that wasn't there that can reach other folks and help them to process"?"
"Mickalene [Thomas] is an artist that I have admired for a long time. So much of her work inspires me - I spend time looking at her work when I'm writing. I feel like we're working toward the same themes, and I see our work in conversation, whether we know it or not."
"Hard times are really a fire under your ass to prioritize and think, "Okay, how can I challenge myself to put something in the world that wasn't there that can reach other folks and help them to process?""
"My friends and I have all been super motivated to work and to do the work that we need to and want to and think should be in the world."
"I also think that [political turmoil] gives artists something, a way of kind of processing."
"Sometimes it's just rejecting stereotypes, sometimes it's creating work. Sometimes it's just blocking out the noise."
"Love makes you smart and strong. Smart enough to know there is nothing else that matters. Strong enough to know that nothing else can weaken you. When you're in love, you're at peace, you're whole, and always safe. I know I made you feel at peace."
"I really hope that people feel permission to talk about their own troubles, but also to celebrate themselves."
"Аrt movements are always linked to some kind of turmoil."