Damali ayo
Encyclopedia
damali ayo is a conceptual artist, author
, comedian
and performance artist. Her books use satire and humor to engage the reader in an examination of American culture. Her art ranges from assemblage, painting, installation, and solo and participatory performance. She also started a ground-breaking sliding-scale eco-clothing company. She prefers her name in lower case.
and attended Sidwell Friends School
. She has a BA from Brown University
with a double concentration in Public Policy and American Civilization. She holds a MFA
from Portland State University
in studio art.
Ayo often claims that her first performance was when she integrated her school's all-white doll collection at the age of 4. While at Brown, ayo was the director of the Women In Prison Project. This community involvement project placed undergraduate women as theatre instructors in the Rhode Island
women's correctional facility. Ayo was trained as a leadership and diversity facilitator as a young adult. She worked for the National Conference for Community and Justice, Rhode Island Branch, where she directed youth programs and workshops for adults on race relations. Ayo found traditional diversity work frustrating and slow to generate change. In 1997 Ayo created an art work about an experience she had in seventh grade with a particularly racist teacher. She realized that, for her, art was the most effective way to encourage people to think about social issues. Her first solo gallery show followed shortly thereafter in 1999.
One of ayo's most well known works is the web-art-performance rent-a-negro.com. This satirical web site examines racism
in the interactions between black and white people. The site employs parody
and satire
to engage the viewer in an artificial premise that one could rent a black person for their personal entertainment or to advance their social clout. This work, created in 2003 (the early days of internet art), received over 400,000 hits per day in its first month.
An excerpt from the site reads:
damali also did a popular work where she visited several paint stores and asked to have a paint mixed to match various parts of her body. She recorded the experiences and created a public radio story for Studio 360
about it.
Much of ayo's work is participatory or web-based. Ayo believes that, "Art should make you think and feel." She thinks that art should reach beyond gallery walls and eschews art that is merely for "decoration." She believes that artists' true place is at the forefront of social change movements. To this end, ayo gives grants, to fund and grow artists making the kind of work she values.
work by damali ayo, living flag, where she sits on the street and panhandles for reparations
. In this street performance, ayo collects reparations from passing white people and pays them out on the spot to passing black people. The National Day of Panhandling for Reparations annually involves people across the country to repeat ayo's performance in their communities.
She was one of four co-founders of defunkt theatre, a consensus-based theatre company in Portland, Oregon. While with defunkt, she did acting, assistant directing, dramaturgy, and won two Drammy Awards for Outstanding Set Design
Ayo's stage work now combines stand-up comedy, multimedia and stories about her life as a way to educate about racism.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and performance artist. Her books use satire and humor to engage the reader in an examination of American culture. Her art ranges from assemblage, painting, installation, and solo and participatory performance. She also started a ground-breaking sliding-scale eco-clothing company. She prefers her name in lower case.
Background
Ayo was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and attended Sidwell Friends School
Sidwell Friends School
Sidwell Friends School is a Quaker private school located in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through secondary school classes. Founded in 1883 by Thomas Sidwell, its motto is "Eluceat omnibus lux" , alluding to the Quaker concept of inner light...
. She has a BA from Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
with a double concentration in Public Policy and American Civilization. She holds a MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
in studio art.
Ayo often claims that her first performance was when she integrated her school's all-white doll collection at the age of 4. While at Brown, ayo was the director of the Women In Prison Project. This community involvement project placed undergraduate women as theatre instructors in the Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
women's correctional facility. Ayo was trained as a leadership and diversity facilitator as a young adult. She worked for the National Conference for Community and Justice, Rhode Island Branch, where she directed youth programs and workshops for adults on race relations. Ayo found traditional diversity work frustrating and slow to generate change. In 1997 Ayo created an art work about an experience she had in seventh grade with a particularly racist teacher. She realized that, for her, art was the most effective way to encourage people to think about social issues. Her first solo gallery show followed shortly thereafter in 1999.
Conceptual Art
Ayo is classified as a conceptual artist because her work does not adhere to one medium, but rather puts the ideas first. She has used performance, painting, sculpture, collage, 3D installation, audio installation, video and web-based media. She also considers her writing a form of art.One of ayo's most well known works is the web-art-performance rent-a-negro.com. This satirical web site examines racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
in the interactions between black and white people. The site employs parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
and satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
to engage the viewer in an artificial premise that one could rent a black person for their personal entertainment or to advance their social clout. This work, created in 2003 (the early days of internet art), received over 400,000 hits per day in its first month.
An excerpt from the site reads:
rent-a-negro.com is a state-of-the-arts service that allows you the chance to promote your connection with a creative, articulate, friendly, attractive, and pleasing African American person. This service comes without the commitment of learning about racism, challenging your own white privilege, or being labeled "radical." In fact, rent-a-negro.com allows you to use your money and status to your advantage! In addition, your dollars go to support the development of African American culture...everyone benefits!
damali also did a popular work where she visited several paint stores and asked to have a paint mixed to match various parts of her body. She recorded the experiences and created a public radio story for Studio 360
Studio 360
Studio 360 is an American weekly public radio program about media, the arts and culture hosted by novelist Kurt Andersen and produced by PRI Public Radio International and WNYC in New York City. The program's stated goal is to "Get inside the creative mind" and uses arts and culture as a lens to...
about it.
Much of ayo's work is participatory or web-based. Ayo believes that, "Art should make you think and feel." She thinks that art should reach beyond gallery walls and eschews art that is merely for "decoration." She believes that artists' true place is at the forefront of social change movements. To this end, ayo gives grants, to fund and grow artists making the kind of work she values.
Obamistan!
In 2010 damali released her second satirical book Obamistan! Land without Racism: Your Guide to the New America. It is a humorous exploration of what a post-racism country really could look like, and what domino effect the end of racism would have on our country as a whole. It proposes that everything from pollution to political prisoners, to how we talk about food would change.How to Rent a Negro
In 2005 ayo released How to Rent a Negro. A satirical guidebook about race relations in the United States was published in 2005. How to Rent a Negro was granted a 2005 Honorable Mention in the Outstanding Book Awards from the Gustavus Meyers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. In 2006 How to Rent a Negro was purchased by Coalition Films to be made into a movie.Performance
Ayo has created work for the street and stage. An example of one of ayo's participatory performance projects is the 'National Day of Panhandling for Reparations'. This is based on performancePerformance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
work by damali ayo, living flag, where she sits on the street and panhandles for reparations
Reparations for slavery
Reparations for slavery is a proposal that some type of compensation should be provided to the descendants of enslaved people in the United States, in consideration of the coerced and uncompensated labor their ancestors performed over several centuries...
. In this street performance, ayo collects reparations from passing white people and pays them out on the spot to passing black people. The National Day of Panhandling for Reparations annually involves people across the country to repeat ayo's performance in their communities.
She was one of four co-founders of defunkt theatre, a consensus-based theatre company in Portland, Oregon. While with defunkt, she did acting, assistant directing, dramaturgy, and won two Drammy Awards for Outstanding Set Design
Ayo's stage work now combines stand-up comedy, multimedia and stories about her life as a way to educate about racism.