Being present in the moment means giving your full attention to something or someone, but the present is always suspended in tension between the weight of the past and the promise of the future. In Episode 3, Glenn revels in Black joy in the presence of Bisa Butler’s intensely vibrant quilt Kindred. With artists Kaitlyn B. Jones and Camry Ivory, Glenn pulls at the threads of slavery and pieces together how its legacy makes us all kindred—part of one large dysfunctional, extended family.
Discussion Prompts
Is there someone you carry with you every day? How do you think they influence your identity, your actions, and your outlook on the future?
When viewing Bisa Butler’s quilt Kindred, Kaitlyn Jones talks about “extraordinary ordinary Black people” and finding beauty in the everyday. What ordinary things or people do you find extraordinary and beautiful?
Kaitlyn and Glenn talk about how many Black artists today are focused on Black joy and Black rest as resilience. How might joy and rest be tools of resistance, resilience, and reclamation?
Museums preserve works of art so that future generations may learn from and enjoy them. Kaitlyn talks about embodying seven generations that came before her, and the mark she wants to leave seven generations from now. What do you carry forward from your ancestors and what marks do you hope to make for others?
About the guests
Kaitlyn B. Jones, artist, curator, writer, and archivist, discusses the extraordinary stories of ordinary Black experiences and how museums can hold multiple truths at once.
Camry Ivory, visual musician and inventor of the instrument Coloratura, introduces Afrofuturism and the power of hope.
Featured art
Bisa Butler, American (born 1973). Kindred, 2019. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund. 2019.45. Art © Bisa Butler.
This family unit, composed of a kaleidoscope of rich, jewel-like colors and a variety of fabrics, gazes out at the viewer, demanding to be seen. The figures exude confidence in the significance of their story. The Kindred family represents the “courageous, brave, or beautiful” people Bisa Butler celebrates in her textile portraits. In works like these, she aims to “noble-ize the normal, if invisible, successful Black community.”
Further reading
The Amazing Story of Nicodemus You Never Learned in School!: a 27-minute video tour with Anthony and Marlie Love, founders of the collective Traveling While Black, on Nicodemus, Kansas, the oldest and only remaining Black settlement west of the Mississippi.
Bisa Butler’s Quilts Feature Designs So Realistic That They’re Compared To Paintings: a 6-minute interview with artist Bisa Butler discussing her process and relationship with her work.
Kindred: a novel by science-fiction writer Octavia Butler, available at most public libraries.
The Black Ordinary: Kaitlyn B. Jones’ multimedia publication, online resource hub, and national database of community archives dedicated to preserving Black-American history and culture
Coloratura: visual musician Camry Ivory’s musical paintbrushes
About the host
Glenn A. North is an award-winning poet and community leader based in Kansas City, Missouri. He is currently the Director of Inclusive Learning & Creative Impact at The Museum of Kansas City. He has previously served at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Center, American Jazz Museum, and The Black Archives of Mid-America. Having earned an M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Glenn also conducts Ekphrastic poetry workshops and uses poetry to address issues of social justice, diversity, equity, inclusion, and self-empowerment.
Credits
A Frame of Mind is a podcast of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. This episode was produced and co-written by Glenn North and Christine Murray. Editing and sound design by Brandi Howell. Interview recording by Rick Anderson and Tim Harte. Studio engineering by Simpson Sound Lab. Fact checking and copyediting by Kate Carpenter. Theme music by The Black Creatures. Cover art by Two Tone Press.
Special thanks to advisory group members Jimmy Beason II, Wolfe Brack, Marlee Bunch, José Faus, and Subashini Nadarajah.
Produced in partnership with Adina Duke, Kim Masteller, and Anne Manning,
This podcast is produced with generous support from The Honorable Jon R. Gray (Ret.) and Dr. Valerie Chow.