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Kalup Donte Linzy is a video and performance artist based in New York City.
Kalup Donte Linzy, Melody Set Me Free, 2007. Courtesy of the Artist.American history has played a critical role in the development of my work. As an African-American artist and performer, it is my responsibility not to forget how comedy and humor were used to humiliate and mock people of color at the turn of the 20th century. These controlling images utilized in minstrel shows and portrayed in movies like “Birth of A Nation,” whose technical innovations revealed moving images’ extraordinary powers as propaganda made it a must see. This revelation, a defining moment in my life, came when I was taking courses in Africana studies. It was then I realized how much of American history had been eliminated from the mainstream. “The Making of a Slave,” a speech written and presented by white slave owner, Willie Lynch in 1712, played the most critical role. Here’s an excerpt from the closing paragraph.
“The Black slave after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. Don’t forget you must pitch the old Black male vs. the young Black male, and the young Black male against the old Black male. You must use the dark skin slaves vs. the light skin slaves and the light skin slaves vs. the dark skin slaves. You must use the female vs. the male, and the male vs. the female. You must also have your white servants and overseers distrust all Blacks, but it is necessary that your slaves trust and depend on us. They must love, respect, and trust only us. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. If used intensely for one year, the slaves themselves will remain perpetually distrustful. Thank you, gentlemen.”
Mind you, I am aware that many of us have evolved beyond this mentality. However, at the time, I was being confronted and realized it was necessary to re-evaluate my existence. This meant it was my responsibility not to remain ignorant and understand how my personal and family history related to and was relevant to American and global histories. Conversations wit de Churen was born.
In the beginning, I will admit I had not quite figured out and not sure if I have at this present moment, how to effectively communicate what I see as truth primarily through video and performance. After all, American perspectives are vast and many times closed or unwilling to understand the views of the “other.” Because it is necessary for me to hold on to my heritage, in the earlier episodes of the Churen series, I chose to have my characters speak in a southern dialect. Dwelling on the attitudes of many Americans, based on the curated version of our history, which has taught some of us not to think critically, made me aware that the humor in my work would run the risk of being read as a modern-day minstrel show. I honor all the slaves who were geniuses in developing a language and/or dialect, which was a major role, if not the major role, in setting black American slaves free. I am sad that white supremacists would find a way to counter it. However, I understand why it is necessary to find a way to maintain mental slavery when we can no longer achieve it physically. My videos have mined all the issues that are relevant to my existence, such as race, class, sexuality, gender, and so on. My latest video Melody Set Me Free takes somewhat of a different visual approach. In this piece, I chose not to embrace the lo-fi aesthetic. Partly, it is because I received the Guggenheim fellowship and secondly, the lo-fi aesthetic does not work well with the material. Melody Set Me Free, which was written six years ago, is an entertaining tale based on the narrative approach of most Hollywood classic films. On the surface, it is a glamorous stylized performance-based film. Underneath the surface, I hope the audience will be reminded that we all dream a dream and sometimes they are shot down, because of our race, class, gender, or sexual preference.
