FIRST SATURDAYS @ THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM

Every first saturday of the month, photographer Ron Arrindell had been inviting me to attend the Brooklyn Museum's Target First Saturdays and I always had a reason to not go. This time I wasn't gonna past it up. THe weather was nice and I was on vacation from my job at FedEx. I need to take a break from retouching and shit and experience some culture.

First Saturdays is an event of free music on the 3rd floor of the Brooklyn Museum sponsored by Target that's held on the first saturday of the month. They were having two popular deejays playing music - one playing afrobeat artist Fela Kuti and the other played James Brown. The Blacklist Project was showing on the 1st floor...I had to go check that out.....


the Blacklist Project is an exhibition of twenty-five portraits by internationally renowned photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and a documentary project that explores being Black in America. Sanders also directed a series of filmed interviews conducted by noted film critic Elvis Mitchell that showed along with the photographs. Serena Williams, Chris Rock, Colin Powell, Toni Morrison, Russell Simmons, Al Sharpton, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Sean Combs are among the many African Americans whose faces are seen and voices heard in The Black List Project.

The images, photographic and filmed, are the core of the collaboration between Greenfield-Sanders and Mitchell that has resulted in The Black List: Volume One, an HBO documentary that you can buy exclusively at Target.

I was so blown away by the Avedonesque way the photographs were shot....it was very inspiring for me. The atomosphere of the Brooklyn Museum felt like I was at the Southland Mall in Memphis...uck! It was so crowded and loud, you couldn't even hear the film. I wished the people would give the museum the same respect you give libraries and churches. I had to sit thru the film twice to hear it. The interviews I enjoyed the most and felt related directly to me were Toni Morrison, Al Sharpton, and Chris Rock. This exhibit parallels the 2 art projects I am working on.


I never seen so many people at the museum in my life. There had to be at least 3 thousand people up in there. The coolest part was being at a event where you were in the company of men, women, and children of all denomination, social backgrounds, and ages.

from left to right - model/ friend Rumando Kelly - me - photographer/model Ron Arrindell
I really did enjoy myself and i look forward to next month's first saturday....i'll definitely be there.