Fine Art and Real Estate Broker Anna D. Smith celebrates Black History Month by telling the stories of 3 Contemporary Black Artists Favored by Activists.

SILICON VALLEY , CALIFORNIA , UNITED STATES , February 26, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Silicon Valley, fine art and real estate broker Anna D. Smith specializes in an area of the art world known as Underground art. Underground art is loosely defined as any form of art that operates outside of conventional norms in the art world, or is part of an underground culture. Generally, any genre of art that is not popular in the art world.

According to the Tate Museum, “Now-a-days the term underground art is used to describe a subculture of art, like graffiti art or comic strip art. Since the late 1990s, the internet has become a forum for underground art thanks to its ability to communicate with a wide audience for free and without the support of an art establishment," see art terms, underground art, Tate Museum.

In a newly posted digital article in the Anna D. Smith Fine Art and Real Estate Magazine, "3 Contemporary Black Artists Favored by Activists," Smith, who represents prison artists, has one of her clients featured in the article.

According to Smith, Prison art is the most influential contemporary form of Underground art. America's Graffiti art movement which started in the 1960s with Darryl "Cornbread" McCray was taught tagging while serving time in a juvenile facility. His famous tagging name "Cornbread" was given to him also when he was taught tagging (graffiti name writing) while locked up.

Point to the NBA star player of the 1980s who had sleeves of tattoos. While the NBA was successful pushing its brand globally from the 1980s, it equally had an impact domestically. Basketball, unlike football, doesn't require any equipment to play the sport, and just like soccer, that only requires a ball, has a strong base in poverty stricken communities.

In the United States, poverty stricken communities are synonymous with high crime. US tough on crime laws produced a symbiotic relationship to communities stricken with poverty and prison. One thing about Prison culture, tattoos or body art is strong in that culture. Newly released prisoners with sleeves of tattoos impacted and influenced those communities, just as the origins of rap, came from the confines of prison, to later influence Hip Hop, see 'Spoken Floz,' Prisoners Retake Over of Hip Hop." So, is it any wonder why today's NBA stars have sleeves of tattoos, as their upbringings were not too far removed from these environments.

Another form of US based Street culture that has a Prison culture influence is the car culture of low riding. Besides seeing this car culture up close, it is also disseminated through Hip Hop music videos that highlight lowrider cars with hydraulics. It is not uncommon to see these cars with artwork on their hoods in the style of Prison art.

So it is not surprising to observe that the artists most favored by Street activists would also come from Prison culture.


#SayHerName PROTEST POSTER

The protest poster #SayHerName (2020), was created by a prisoner from another one of his artwork entitled "Strange Fruit."

"Strange Fruit" (2018), is a paintoem. Paintoems come out of the world of Prison art, and are poems inspired by paintings or drawings; or paintings and drawings inspired by poems. They are combined together as a single work of Digital art. All paintoems are classified as a Creative Commons (CC). This means the public has the right to freely use these works as long as the artist or artists are acknowledged. See, "What Are Paintoems?"


"Strange Fruit" is an original work of wax on paper; made in the form of a collage. It is to draw attention to a report that was in the October 2016, edition of the San Quentin News, where it stated, "During an 18-month period in 2014-15, the suicide rate at the California Institution for Women (C.I.W.) was eight times the national average for women prisoners and five times the rate for the entire California prison system."

INCARCERATION NATION

"Incarceration Nation" (2017), is America's premier work of art on mass incarceration. Besides becoming the first artwork by a prisoner to make it onto a billboard; it is in fashion designer Makenzie Stiles fashion line "Mercy"; Hip Hop music videos, including "Exception" by MinisterKingXPyeface, featuring Scarface; and is the lede image in print and digital articles.

TODAY WE ARE SISTERS

"Today We Are Sisters" (2018) is a paintoem. It was created as a critique to California's public policy of providing reparations to victims of its 70 year old (1909-1979), legal force sterilization program in the 20th century, and excluding women prisoners from reparations who were forcibly sterilized once the law was repealed in 79'.

Its poem reads:

Today we are sisters
Tomorrow we won’t
unless for reparations
together we fight
I am Pro Choice
I am Pro Life
just because she’s in prison
She still has rights

Another notable work to try and change California's policy of excluding women prisoners from reparations was the 2020 documentary "Belly of the Beast," directed by Erika Cohn.

California Coalition for Women Prisoners since 2018, had been lobbying California legislators to provide the women prisoners who were forcibly sterilized reparations.

In 2021, with the release on YouTube of the video "1-Artist; 1-Subject; 21-Works" that concluded with "Today We Are Sisters" did California lawmakers finally acquiesced to activists demands.

On July 13, 2021, California Governor Newsom signed a California state budget which included $7.5 million to provide reparations to survivors of state sponsored forced sterilizations. It became the first state in the country to provide reparations to survivors who were sterilized while incarcerated in its women’s prisons. See, "Reparations 4 Reproductive Justice Behind Bars."


FROM THE PLANTATION TO THE PENITENTIARY

"From The Plantation To The Penitentiary" (2016), became the official poster for the August 19th 2017, Millions For Prisoners Human Rights March, in Washington DC, and other cities across the US, and internationally.

Without "From The Plantation To The Penitentiary", there never would have been an "Incarceration Nation." Inspired by "From The Plantation To The Penitentiary", "Incarceration Nation" was specifically created to become another promotional tool for activists to use in raising awareness about the Millions For Prisoners Human Rights March.

It is interesting how the prison grapevine system operates, as it was this same system in 1971, that spawned the bloody September Attica prison riot in New York, three weeks after the bloody August San Quentin riot in California.

THE PEACEMAKERS

"The Peacemakers” (2018), was turned into a protest poster in 2020. It features William E. Brown, aka MinsterKingXPyeface, the George Jackson of Rap, Sitawa Nantambu Jamaa, Donald "C-Note" Hooker, George Lester, and Stanley "Tookie" Williams.

These men were known for trying to discover, implement, and execute the concept of peace, on both sides of the prison wall, along racial, ethnic, and gang lines.


To learn more about these, "3 Contemporary Black Artists Favored by Activists" read Anna D. Smith's Fine Art and Real Estate Magazine.

3 Contemporary Black Artists Favored by Activists | Anna D. Smith Fine Art and Real Estate Magazine
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To learn more about Underground art, check out Anna D. Smith Fine Art and Real Estate Pinterest boards. They include the Underground art genres of, NFTs, Digital art, Comic Strip/Graphic Novels, Street art, Graffiti, Prison art, Buying or Selling art, and The Art Market.

Also included are Boards on Real Estate to include, Architects, Commercial Real Estate, Luxury Real Estate, Real Estate Brokers, Celebrity Homes, Buying or Selling Real Estate, and The Real Estate Market.

Anna D. Smith Fine Art and Real Estate Broker | Pinterest
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