Ensemble 7
conNECKted ... conNECKtedTOO ... TINYISPOWERFUL ... PORTRAIT OF A COMMUNITY
Poverty Fines? ... and More?
1968-2020
Each drawing: 60"x40"
Tableau: 85"x170"x2.5"
---------A CONVERSATION on "Poverty Fines" and Displacement generated this piece.
"POVERTY FINES" are fines that are taxing poor people.
Examples: “In April of 2016, a 30-year-old woman from St. Louis was accused of stealing a tube of mascara from a Walmart and was arrested for shoplifting. She said that she threw away the package and forgot to pay the $8.74 for the mascara. She served jail time, received a fine and was put on probation. When she did not appear at a probation hearing, she was sent back to jail. She fell behind on payments and was sent to jail again. Her board jail bill is now more than $10,000.
Another Missouri woman was arrested for stealing nail polish from a Walmart. She pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. The nail polish cost $24.29. After her jail time, she received a bill for $1,400 for room and board. She could not afford the board bill and was put in jail again — this time, the bill totaled $2,160.
In New Orleans, a 61-year-old black man is still paying off thousands of dollars in court costs and restitution for writing a bad check in 2014. In order to make his court-mandated monthly payments, he often has to shut off water or other utilities because failure to make the payment deadline could result in jail time.
Across the nation, offenders are burdened with excessive fees and fines… The imposition of fees and fines impacts millions of Americans, most of whom are already marginalized, and has contributed to the negative perception of the justice system.”
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/government_public/publications/public_lawyer_articles/fees-fines/
see also SC Fair Lending 
———The PHOTOGRAPHS of a reverse time clock and a forearm in sand are leftovers from works from the early 70’s, searching for multiple ways of considering time: linear, vertical, static, always in our head, …
———The LETTER was to a landlord in 1992, “to add a bit of personal touch to our discussions concerning the lease of 98 Broad St.”
———The FAÇADE, informed by the BOXING CLUB on King St, Charleston, is an artifact part of conNECKtedTOO “You bet ‘n me ‘n me ‘n you”, shown at the Charleston Cannon St Arts Center, the North Charleston City Hall and the cTOO Community Lab on Reynolds Avenue.
———The “SUSPICIOUS OBSERVER”, bottom right, is Camille Shafer’s husband; part of those “who have passed away too early.” (See introductory text)
———PEOPLE’S BACKS (2018) are those of five Tiny business owners who worked within the conNECKtedTOO project.
conNECKtdTOO was led and/or enriched by Pamella Gibbs, Victoria Moore, Theron Snype, Kit Loney, Arianne King Comer, Morgan Kinne, Sharon Cooper Murray, Kurtis Lamkin, Gwylene Gallimard, Debra Holt, Jean-Marie Mauclet, Jason Gourdine, Ennis Carter, Sonia Osio, Markelle Evans, Anastatia Ketchen, Rayn Rayney, Anna Brown, Timothy Hunter, Aysha Bowens, the people at James Simons Public Montessori School, many TINY businesses…
conNECKtedTOO started building a network of TINY businesses of which more than a quarter have closed due to COVID, gentrification and/or other causes.
The jingle was created by Kurtis Lamkin.
The last intent of the project has been to make conNECKtedTOO itself a tiny business, for profit or not-for-profit.
So was born TINYisPOWERFUL, led by a younger crew: Victoria Moore, Rayn Rainey and Pamella Gibbs with Kit Loney, Arianne King Comer & Jean-Marie Mauclet. It was encouraged by a Circle of Advisors led by Gwylene Gallimard.
The CHARLESTON CUT program made long standing barbers of downtown Charleston meet for the first time. Sammy Smalls, owner of Fresh Cut Barber (1100 King St) and Thad Miller, co-owner of Family Barbershop (147 Spring St) had been in business for 25+ years and found out during The Charleston Cut Encore! that they never met, even though their businesses are so close to each other, only blocks away.
The Reynold Ave. Community Lab told the whole story. Covid cut its happenings/documentation/communication cruelly short. We believe though that the spirit is still at work with TINYisPOWERFUL.
The work with ONE BEAT and participating Tiny businesses exposed that Art was key in this project.
Because Reynold Avenue provides some services to the unhoused, I was asked to bring an older work done in partnership with Crisis Ministry in 1994. GUESTS at this Charleston shelter were offered to be LIVE MODELS posing for an hourly pay while joining me in an informal conversation. At the end they wrote their thoughts on their portrait and signed it.
Their written thoughts – mostly Thanks to the shelter or to God – contrasted heavily with a very free and fun exchange. It was often asked that the stories be published. They actually were social however private conversations.
The guests were also filmed together, still – not moving – for two minutes. One hundred guests participated, representing a segregated community in Charleston.
Copies of the drawings and words were transferred manually on canvas to allow for easy transportation and multiple conversations elsewhere.
1993: Within the FAST/FOOD/CHAIN/FEEDING art installation late actor Leon McKelvey was filmed with children for 10mn, while reading a report on food habits of youth in Samoa by “participant-observer” cultural anthropologist Margaret MEAD.
2017: The JUSTICE TREE in “conNECKted: Imaginings for Truth & Reconciliation” proposed:
If we pay out loans off on time, why can't 1/2 of the extra interest be paid back to us?
This tree now belongs to Sipp Culture The Mississippi Center for Cultural Production and will soon find a new life in Utica, MS.
THE JUSTICE TREE shaded a table: a perfect gathering place, watched by a collection of dolls.
1st GROWTH of leaves:
How does a Cultural Impact Study help with gentrification?
Can schools offer a curriculum in Art & Activism: Education, Equity and Belonging?
Why doesn’t my Heritage count? Why don’t we count?
We wand You to hire a Parent Motivator!
If we pay our loans off in time, why can’t some of the interest be paid back to us?
2nd GROWTH of leaves:
What about an Artist residency program at the Office of Cultural Affairs, R&D dpt?
We don’t pollute! We take the Bus.
Could “Tiny”, as in “Tiny Business”, mean Social Change?
Limit Gates and Fences. They make your neighbors invisible.
A Cultural Impact Study to highlight human consequences of development?
An Art Tool to Deepen Relationships Within Collaborations
The series of essays we are offering below relate conversations between TINYisPOWERFUL artists/members, in person, masked when necessary, and one at a time.
The purpose of such encounters is to deepen the relationship between members, affirm the vision and values they keep developing together, activate them in their output and make sure that their efforts benefit everybody. In no way should it amount to a judgment on the creation itself.
The articles below are printed in a two-column format. The left column is that of the writer. Remarks are entered in the right column, which belongs to the interviewee to correct, add, judge, any way one wants. The right of response is one of the foundations of free reporting. Readers are encouraged to become a third party. We are here to build community, aren’t we?
This approach brings up many questions about the weight added by collaboration to the work we do together – moreover in a context of art in/with community.
Conversation between Jean-Marie Mauclet and Arianne King Comer
Conversation between Jean-Marie Mauclet and Morgan Kinne
Conversation between Jean-Marie Mauclet and Victoria Rae Moore
Conversation between Rayn Rayney and JEMAGWGA
Conversation between Kit Loney and Jean-Marie Mauclet
Conversation between Jean-Marie Mauclet and Kit Loney
Conversation between Jean-Marie Mauclet and Pamella Gibbs
It is our experience that critics hate being asked to be put or to put themselves on the spot! The artist, on the other hand, learns much about the relativeness of art criticism, perception, misinterpretation, plain factual errors!
We did apply this principle of conversations on two commissioned articles for The Future is on the Table #3. If you wish to discover them, send a message to Jemagwga@gmail.com , with your street address to receive a full catalogue of The Future is on the Table #3.
