An interview for Sixty Inches From Center
July 2020

“…historically, we were seldom invited to participate in the discourse, even when we were its topic.” —Toni Morrison, The Site of Memory

In one of my all-time favorite talks by Toni Morrison she speaks about what she calls the “interior life” of Black folks, also known as the distinctly Black experiences, thoughts, and emotions that oftentimes go unseen by the rest of the world and are usually excluded from historical narratives. She goes into depth about how this is usually an intentional omission, particularly from the narratives of those enslaved during the 18th and 19th centuries, because those stories were usually constructed or edited by white people, or intended to be read by white audiences. The concern was that if those readers really knew what Black people thought or went through, they might not be able to handle it. As a result, the interior thoughts and more monstrous accounts of that period were glossed over or given a “veil,” a covering that Ms. Morrison worked to remove through her novels. She explains that, “the absence of the interior life, the deliberate excising of it from the records that the slaves themselves told, is precisely the problem in the discourse that proceeded without us.”

Today, as we settle into a swelling movement that is annotated by relentless public access to people’s internal thoughts and a growing level of fragility in response to grisly elements of Black Life revealed, there are still experiences and personal accounts from those at the center of the fight for Black liberation that struggle to be seen.

Brayla Stone, Dominique Fells, Riah Milton, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Oluwatoyin Salau, and the list goes on.

Testimony is an earnest attempt to address this by offering and archiving a series of essays, interviews, and first-person accounts of the interior lives and exterior experiences of Black trans, Black women, Black femme, and Black non-binary artists.

A few weeks ago I spoke with Ireashia M. Bennett, a Black queer new media artist from Suitland, Maryland who now calls Chicago home. Their work takes the form of photography, multimedia essays, short documentaries, and experimental films that poetically harness and affirm Black queer disabled perspectives and realities. In our time together, we discussed the importance of a clear and unapologetic artistic intention in this moment, the need for more tenderness, and how there’s a Nina Simone song for all occasions.

This interview was published as part of the Testimony series.

Read the full interview here….

Photo Credits:
[1] Film still from Free Rein (in development), an experiential transmedia film project that explores the complexity of Black queer relationships, love, pleasure, and healing. The film still features an overlay of two moving image portraits of Ireashia M. Bennett and Kirstin Brockenborough. Courtesy of the artist.

[2] Film still from Ireashia M. Bennett’s ‘Sweetness,’ a vignette film that highlights the simple acts of love which often go overlooked. The still features a medium shot of Ireashia sitting in a chair wearing a jean romper as their grandmother moisturizes their scalp. Their gaze is looking beyond the camera.

[3] Ireashia M. Bennett, ‘Unruly Bodies, Divergent Minds (in-progress). From a portrait and interview series that explores pleasure, fat liberation, and sensual healing through the perspectives and experiences of disabled queer folks. The artist sits on a bed covered in a white and grey striped blanket. They are completely nude, with eyes closed, and calm. Courtesy of the artist.