Video 3 [Artist Talk Series] "The Wait We Carry" | The Concept
Hey ya’ll, it’s Clifton Henri, nationally recognized, award winning, fine art photographer.
Today is Video 3 & Day 3 of this 10-Day video series and we will be diving into the actual concept we landed on for the title piece, “The Wait We Carry”.
It’s also Day 3 of me using the same ridiculous intro, but I’m sure by Day 10 it’ll be rolling off of all our tongues like water. (insert sarcastic face) LMAO.
After sitting with my thoughts for a few days I was pretty solid about using the idea of WAR and Child Soldiers for the piece.
We try to cope and prepare ourselves the best we can to handle the pressures of the day and the realities of the world.
It wasn’t until recently, as I was on the horizon of becoming a first time father, that I realized I would have to prepare and protect my child from these things too.
Preparing our kids for war is a sad reality but also an absolute necessity in the Black Community.
The sad fact is, if we don’t protect and prepare our children then they’ll be eaten alive.
I thought of a War Memorial Statue of sorts - that embodied the idea of Black America being told to WAIT.
A monument that recognizes the struggle of Black America and the fight we’ve had to endure for hundreds of years.
A dark profile & silhouette of a child soldier carrying the burden of a war he was born into.
Conceptually I wanted this piece to be an acknowledgement of this “WAIT WE CARRY”.
I wanted to include the use of physical protective gear and “PPE” (personal protection equipment) that we heard all through the pandemic, hence the helmet.
The helmet also figuratively lends itself to the idea of protecting your mental health as well, because remember… this “WAIT”, affects us in ALL the ways.
Conceptually there is a ton to unpack here and i’ll continue to reveal those layers in the upcoming videos.
CLICK LINK IN BIO TO SEE THE SIGNATURE PIECE “THE WAIT WE CARRY”.
Tomorrow, Day 4 we’ll focus on how “The Wait We Carry” fits into the overall series and carries the theme.
Being that it’s the “signature” piece some of that will be obvious but, we’ll talk about it anyway. Lol