Art is a Language: Rooted in Place, Rising in Power
Victoria Rae Boynton Moore
Art and culture — Commodified, commercialized, exploited, and sold. We can do better than that. We are doing better than that.
Art is liberating. Liberation is a state of mind, a way of being. Art is a way of being.
I am a product of the south born and raised here and culturally speaking what’s more southern than South Carolina?
For some perspective though I have northern American roots too, Pennsylvania by way of Alabama, not that you asked. And Indigeneity…well, how deep are we going here? How much time do we have together after all?
But that’s the thing about the south, we have always had something to say and this piece is less about my identity and more about addressing barriers.
“Contrast — it’s one of our greatest blessings; a reminder of where we’re going, a compass…you hate what you hate so you can know what you love…take a step like petals in the wind
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This is America, after all.
But rivers flow and waters change and not everyone here is from here and we all come from different places.
Do investors and developers care as much about our cultures, our people, our neighborhoods, as they care about our assets and talents? Maybe, maybe not. Either way we must communicate. Mustn’t we?
So here we are. When I was invited to contribute to this series, Self-Determined: Confronting Uneven Funding and Uplifting Cultural Movement in the South, I had to first reflect on what I understood about the meaning of “self-determined.” In short, it seems to be about taking personal responsibility in problem solving and decision making. Check. This is autonomy, a core value of our interdisciplinary collective’s efforts. TINYisPOWERFUL is based in Charleston, SC, born – in part – out of the art, activism, and radical love of and for Alternate ROOTS.
Often from elders, yeldors (young elders), mentors, and friendtors (peer leaders) in the field I am reminded of W.E.B. Du Bois’ famous words, “as the South goes, so goes the nation.”
“So, how is the South going?” you may ask.
Well, the south is global. Humanity is, too. I offer another question. What is it to be self-determined and not only recognize our lives as interconnected, but to place equal value in the “We” and the “I”?
Flowers at the feet of a Denmark Vessey Memorial Monument in Hampton Park - Charleston, SC.
Recently, the South Carolina Arts Commission had an open grant cycle offering support for artist-led business initiatives. This was great news to our collective as an interracial, intergenerational group of artists, activists, and educators creating a hybrid business model to support grassroots collaborations. Seeking to link the arts and tiny businesses in pursuit of a solidarity hub and Community Lab, we proposed an accessible pay-what-you-will structure for our unique facilitation and community building workshops. We also proposed the marketing and selling of original art tools and/or replicas as we continue developing together. The model would allow us to earn incomes to supplement (and become less dependent on) grant-generated incomes to fund our collaborative in/with community productions and explorations. Our submitted proposal, however, was never considered because the grant was only for individual artist-led business initiatives. I am an artist (undisciplined multidisciplinary dancer, writer, poet…) co-leading our collective efforts. But, in this case, the “we” was a disqualifier. Does this reinforce the idea that one great artist is more valuable than a collective of creative people across a range of skills, interests, disciplines, and abilities working together toward a shared vision (or visions)? Businesses talk in terms of “we” all the time.
Our collective has worked a lot with Tiny – smaller than small – Businesses, which include neighborhood shops and self-employed individuals, including other artists/activists/cultural workers attempting to sustain their practice(s). Our team is intergenerational (from ages 25 to 82). Some come from low income households, rent, or own their homes. Some have moved out of Charleston, to areas further away, which are also facing the pressures of development. Covid pandemic time and the following years exacerbated gentrification in the Charleston area and beyond. And hardship hit many tiny businesses with closing and displacement.
In my work and collaborations in the arts and culture sector I’ve found we often bring into question, “Who gets to be an artist and how are they valued?”
We are now five years out of what was dubbed the “summer of racial reckoning” marked famously by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Abery, among others. It has now been ten years since the horrendous, racially-motivated hate crime murders of Myra Thompson, Clementa Pinckney, Cynthia Graham Hurd, Tywanza Sanders, Sharonda Coleman Singleton, Daniel Simmons, Ethel Lance, DePayne Middleton-Doctor, and Susie Jackson of Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church. The embedded trauma of devastating tragedies like these linger, spoken and unspoken, in our communities. And the heartbreaks, historic and otherwise, live on in our collective memories, yet still, movement continues. Artistic investments in the south can support cultural movements. That is powerful.
Artist and Filmmaker Daniel Green, Multimedia Artist Concept Rxch, Amelia Gasque of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Debra Holt, Hélio Pondja, engaging in a Question/Relay at 5000 BLACK Afrofuturist Event in Charleston, SC.
Passed from one generation to the next, the South is no stranger to resilience and self-determination. We have more than hope. We have facts, evidence, research, networks, ideas, tools, talents, and – bless it – we have so much critical and creative thinking in our midst.
And we have our bodies; our senses; our perceptions; our reflections; connections and connect-abilities. It’s not about the sensationalism of any given moment – although we are undeniably in a sensational moment. It’s the fortitude to look both forward and backwards as we act toward a more hopeful future. And if we have all that, what do we need?
We can all be all teachers — without always the validation and/or responsibilities of academic titles. And we can all be artists, even if it is in our most private and personal ways.
What might our institutions look like if we valued relationships over results, or rest over productivity? Can we value them the same? These aren’t rhetorical questions—they’re calls to imagine, together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Victoria Rae Boynton Moore, based in North Charleston, SC, is a writer and co-founder of TINYisPOWERFUL, a grassroots, interracial, and intergenerational community hub that connects artists, youth, and small business owners. She began her work through the conNECKtedTOO placemaking project, which addressed gentrification by fostering collaborative art partnerships and community ownership. Through her role in the Leaders of Color (formerly Emerging Leaders of Color) network, she has facilitated innovative community methods like her “Question Relay”—a curated dialogue process promoting inclusive, peer-driven conversations. Moore has also led workshops at cohort gatherings and benefited from mentorship in strategic future visioning and operational systems from Salvador Acevedo and Margie Johnson Reese. Under their guidance, she’s instilled future-oriented planning in TINYisPOWERFUL and reinforced the importance of testing systems and sustainability without formalizing as a traditional nonprofit. In doing so, she continues to challenge norms around artist compensation, ownership, and the role of culture in community resilience. As both mentee and mentor within the Network, Moore exemplifies a cyclical model of leadership development—growing professionally while uplifting peers and contributing to the broader advancement of arts and culture leadership.
