have been making responses to visual things relating to black star - i had a vague idea in my head of the themes behind the album already from a few listens and a few reads but i felt i was lacking intention in terms of being able to push forward and create well rounded outcomes in response.
the main idea behind black star is a joyful celebration of blackness - it's layered and political but it's also lighthearted and fun in its delivery; i've picked out some strong lyrics from various songs that i feel would be worth highlighting through my visual responses. with illmatic it was more about creating outcomes that were a visual representation of the research process that i really enjoyed and more about replicating the feeling and mood of the album through those responses.
however, with black star i feel it might be worth using the lyricism as a basis for the visual responses and using the drawings and bits i've been doing to work around those things.
i've just finished doing the fakeflyer brief and i think it might be interesting to use that same process to make some flyer/poster stuff that celebrates those words and collages the drawings i've been making for that added bit of context.
it also allows me to move away a little bit from making zines - which i love but have exhausted a little bit at this point. will try and get some colour ink as well and paper so i can push the visual qualities of my work a little bit. love the black but am also feeling restricted by the black.
some lyrics worth noting:
"Black people unite and let's all get down
We got to have what? we got to have that love"
"third eye vision, five-side dimension"
"Chasing stars with your eyes, playing games with your lives"
"knowledge of self is like life after death"
"Blasting holes in the night till she bled sunshine"
"Breathe in, inhale vapours from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke trace the skyline"
"Hold your head when the beat drop"
"bein' a black man is demandin'
The fire in my eyes and the flames need fannin' "
"I can feel the city breathing
Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening"
"I'm black like the side of the moon you don't see"
"I asked him why we follow the law of the bluest eye"
"The wounds of slaves in cotton fields that never heal"
"We chasing after death just to call ourselves brave"
"Hiding like thieves in the night from life
Illusions of oasis making you look twice"
"Look in the skies for God
what you see besides the smog
Is broken dreams flyin' away
on the wings of the obscure"
some additional drawings i've made:
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