Musezine 16

musez i n e 16#16

Musez i n e 16

Created in 2005, the Bronx Museum Teen Council strives to make contemporary art and culture accessible to urban youth.

Structured around the production of MuseCasts, and MuseZines, the Teen Council is comprised of a group of high school students working closely with two instructors in the Museum’s Media Lab. Scheduled concurrently with the school year, this 8-month program provides teens with an open forum for the expression of ideas and dialogue on issues affecting young people, and the promotion of the Bronx as an important cultural, political and artistic force.

Work by:Nicol WilliamsHadiza KassimDalena HoangDestiny AlvaradoClarence KillbrewOnieja TaylorKelisha CyrusKwadwo AsamoahEric AvilaAlvaro CeballosGertrudiz MendozaJasheah HowardBrianna BrownGuest Teen CouncilAlumni:Abiel Wilson

The Bronx Museum of the Arts’ Edcucation Programs and Teen Council is made possible with support from The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, The David Rockefeller Fund, Simón Bolívar Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Keith Haring Foundation, Robert Lehman Foundation; New York Yankees Community Council; and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation.

Edited by:Hannie Chia

Hatuey Ramos Fermín

Visit us at:www.bxmateens.tumblr.comwww.bronxmuseum.org www.facebook.com/bronxteencouncil www.youtube.com/bronxteencouncil

a p r o d uct ion o f: T h e B r onx Muse um

o f th e A rts'' T een C oun c il.

Oniejacollage?

By O

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Taylor

a p r o d uct ion o f: T h e B r onx Muse um

o f th e A rts'' T een C oun c il.

China Dollby Dalena Hoang

“Hey, my China Doll.” He says to me.I stopped and stared into his windows.He smiled.For that moment, he had the universe in the palm of his right hand and me in his left.

The first second our eyes locked:China? Chinese? Really?Okay, I assume that it is your mistake to declare my ethnicityBecause of my slightly slanted eyes.Unless you meant...[Sigh]I do not belong behind closed glass cabinet doors.Left as a displayed objectGathering dust Because I am too delicate to touchAnd if you get too close, It might just crack and crumble.

You can glue it back, but it will never be the same.I will not crack, crumble, or fall.You can’t fix what is not broken,Can you?

I am not nor will I ever be an empty vesselfor anyone to stuff their unmentionables inside of me.I do not need you to brush my hairOr dress me.I am capable of standing on my own two feetFirmly pressed against the ground.And I will not smileWhen I don’t want to.I am not a manufactured pseudo-ideologyPlaced on society Spreading out like water without a fixed container,When the world is where it is being contained in.I will not become the image you have attempted to mold me into,

An inanimate object cold to the touch.Your perfection is nonexistence Just like relationship you’ve began to form in the back of your mind.

I do not belong to you or any other living being.I am a human being with rights.Not the rights that were set To drown me of my potentialsBecause you’re too afraid to see yourself in my eyes.I am not a piece of paperFor you to write your name onAnd claim me as your possession.You can spit my name as many times as you wantBut I will never obey your demands.You are as wrong as the Geocentric Theory If you believed that you had the key to my body.Like the universe, I was never yours to begin with.

Interview Sneak Peek

on Lady k fever

Do you get more respect for being a female artist?

I feel that I do receive more respect. In the beginning I felt that I was treated as notoriety, kind of cute, like it was a phase or I was doing it to impress a man. Now I know it is difficult for a lot of people to understand and to truly respect what I am doing as a female in a world that is still struggling with the idea of equality.

At what age did you start drawing?

I started drawing as a kid on everything and by everything I mean walls, furniture, anything I could get my hands on. I started paint-ing in high school and I was an obnoxious, rebellious art student challenging the status quo, but my career focus was dance and theatre. I began to paint graffiti and murals in 1991 when I moved to Vancouver, Canada.

By Lexandra Ramos

Who was your inspiration when you started draw-ing & who is your inspiration now?

My inspiration to make art was from the traditional side of Art History. In high school, we studied intensive art history, so I am thankful to have that foundation. I was inspired by all the greats – van Gogh, Picasso, Monet, and then I got into Andy Warhol when I was 14, which lead me into so many other artists, musicians, writers and poets. My inspirations are now a variety of things and at times contradictory. From political/social justice issues, to street/hood is-sues, fashion, style, oral culture, sexuality issues, emotions, life ex-periences, artists and their process, films, theatre, music...

What advice can you give me when it comes to publishing my work out there & to be known?

Truly understand your worth as an artist and that it takes a lifetime to understand. Make sure you feel that you are being represented respectfully and no one is taking advantage of you or your work.

What’s your nationality?

I do not really identify with a nationality. I am first generation Canadian and I feel as many first generation people do there is a loss of tradition when adjusting to a new country. I identify with being a human being and when I fill out applications I always mark OTHER.

For you was school necessary to be successful in art?

Yes and no. I studied theatre and film because I felt that I did not want to go to art school at that time. I did eventually study part-time and with artists as their studio assistants to get a better vernacular of my artistic process. I feel and think that going to any type of post-secondary school is important. A college or university educa-tion provides people with opportunities they might never have had before. School also allows you to experiment and make mistakes.

What kind of stereotypes do you get about being an artist?

I have had them all. I have had to re-evaluate everything. What make me frustrated is most times the stereotypes can come from the closest people to you. I like to challenge those barriers. I defi-nitely get stuck into categories that I did not co-sign onto, but I enjoy being able to show that stereotypes are illusions based on fear. The fear of success is far greater than the fear of failure.

How did you get a chance to get your work pub-lished throughout Brooklyn & the Bronx?

When I was on the streets, the world was a magical playground; the alleys provided this embrace of being alive. I had no concept of making this into a career passion.

Watch the full video interviewwww.youtube.com/bronxteencouncil

By Nicol Williams

Continued...

“The following students missed detention and their days have doubled,” is the announcement I hear every morning during homeroom. As my Dean calls the names of those students, I realize that when I’m in detention I don’t really be-long there. Detention is stereotyped as a place where the “bad students” go when they have done “bad things”, like disrespecting the teacher or talking back. When I go to detention I’m there for lateness, or not having my I.D. Detention in my school is more like an after school pro-gram rather than an actual punishment.

At the beginning of freshman year in high school, I went in being a great student. The deans barely knew me, the teachers described me as a respectful student and Detention wasn’t even in my vocabulary. As the months went on “Sasha Fierce” was one of the names you heard on the loud speaker daily. “Sasha Fierce, you have missed detention and your days have doubled.” “Sasha Fierce please have your planner signed and report to the Deans office now.” “Sasha Fierce, you were late and detention will be served on Friday.” My first experience with “detention” probably took place in my Religion class. Yes, my religion class. My teacher seemed to really have it out for me and I never understood why. My friend asked me to pass her an empty water bottle and as I passed it to her, she missed it. “You have Detention,” the three words I heard for the first time ever. I was in such awe. I was never known to get in trouble. As I sat

I am my own StereotypeBy Onieja Taylor

in Detention that day, I felt like a disre-spectful student. I felt like this was a place where I knew I didn’t belong. The worst part was our “punishment”: We had to copy every word of a newspaper article in SCRIPT and if we messed up we had to start over. After that I promised myself that I would never be in that terrible place again. I guess that didn’t work.

As freshman year passed, I had multiple en-counters with detention. Sophomore year passed and I was still in that terrible place. Now in my junior year, I still have a reserved spot. Why? As hard as I try to not end up in that place at the end of my day, somehow my name still ends up on the roster. My latest offense: not having my school I.D. I mean it was my fault that I lost it, but why should I be punished with having to sit in that room everyday until I pay for a new one. Every-day until I purchased a new I.D., my homeroom teacher repeatedly wrote me a detention slip. I was forced once again to sit there in that room to spend countless minutes of my time in Detention.

Detention, to me, should be a place where the actual “bad students” go to be punished, and for the good students like me, we truly don’t deserve detention. For those students who actually get good grades and actually do their work, we should be respected as such. We shouldn’t be placed upon the same group of students who essentially disrespect their teacher, or skip class because it’s those stu-dents that fit the actual stereotype of deten-tion. But for me, I am my own stereotype.

By Brianna Brown

The Bronx M

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718-681-6000 x 132

By Kelisha Cyrus

I cannot stand here and see our mothers weepWeep over the bodies of sins of our children scream over the gifts of bullets that envelope itself into the

innocence of our bodiesAnd pierces the bloody gates of our soulI cannot stand to see our father’s anger

As we see his daughter kneel on the floor of genocideTo give pleasure to a man she doesn’t even know

As she stands upon mercies pole and strips off each layer of protection

To show her birthday suit to the men of greed and lustAnd I cannot stand to see our parents cry

When they see their children swallow pills of despair and insecurity

To hide behind the darkness that frees us from the hate of words that creep at us from every corner

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