This DIARY, my diary, is being written still, to report on/account for the multiple collaborative works accomplished by the Charleston Rhizome Collective in its latest manifestations: conNECKtedTOO, an art in/with community project and TINYisPOWERFUL an ongoing attempt to embed its mission in a TINY BUSINESS or other socio-economic organization.
It wanders, in no organizing manner other than its chronology, around events, readings, quotations, studio hours, nightly stupors and illuminations, dreams, projections, daily attempts at street-level philosophy . . . and pushes as hard as possible on my concerns with civil rights, women’s rights, truth and reconciliation, education, violence, transgression, economic justice, art, art tools, art as tool . . .
As an expansion of the show installed at 701 CCA in Columbia SC (March-April 2022), Gwylene and I have decided to open a website loaded with memories of collaborations over time and geographies . . .
YoucominTOO – its name was proposed by educator Pam Gibbs. The presence of the DIARY in this JEMAGWGA project means that Gwylene and I still have a lot to say and do in/with the communities which host us.
This DIARY reports mostly on the discoveries and learning processes of conNECKtedTOO and TINYisPOWERFUL. It started on October 19, 2017. It is not only a reference of facts and stories as lived by me, but also a journal in action.
Ultimately, it is all about collaboration and its agent of choice: the arts. Because, in this age of competition and meritocracy, collaboration is the way to affirm differences and autonomy.
Differences speak of the skills, acquired and brought forth by each individual participant. Autonomy expresses the ability and the choice each player has to pitch in with his/her skills. Provided that there is a common goal, the means to reach it may be as many as there are participants. It is the conjunction of their efforts which determines each project’s strength and longevity.
Organizing this conjunction demands that adapted forms of dialogue/exchange of thoughts and art be explored and designed. This DIARY is a search and a gift.