Listado de la etiqueta: Racismo

Developing a career as an artist is most of the times not easy at all. If additionally, you have to fight against racism and prejudice, it gets even tougher. This is what Theaster Gates story is about.

From the streets to the museums

Theaster Gates is an artist who is originally from Chicago whose personal fight was to sell his pottery in Art Galleries. But he was “just another black guy” and he had the settle with selling his work in roadside markets. All because of the colour of his skin.

But that was definitely something that wasn’t going to stop him. He knew his work was worth a lot more. And that is why he decided to “disguise” himself. He started saying that a Japanese artist who had taken refuge in the US had created the pottery. This character he created helped him sell his work without being judged for the colour of his skin.

And it worked. The art collectors who had before ignored his work started to be quite interested in them. Theaster decided then that it was time to reveal his identity. The collectors recognised his talent and creativity and continued buying his pottery. After that, he started exhibiting in the most important museums around the world and could finally develop a career as a professional artist.

From the museums to the streets

Nonetheless, Theaster’s lifestyle remained all the same. He decided to stay in his neighbourhood, one of Chicago’s most deprived areas, maybe even the US’ most deprived. Not only that, but he also decided to rebuild his community through his work.

He started buying, rehabilitating and refurbishing abandoned houses in Chicago’s outskirts and turning them into shelter houses for people at risk of exclusion.

Rebuilding neighborhoods and using art to transform people’s life is already a lot, but what Theaster is doing goes far beyond. Theaster’s story and activism reflects the issue of racism to perfection and shows that we should not exclude people just for their origin. They are also capable of doing amazing things.

Ganarse la vida como artista es complicado. Si a eso le sumas la dificultad de ser discriminado por el color de tu piel, aún lo es más. Eso es lo que vivió y cambió la vida de Theaster Gates.

 

Theaster Gates: de las calles al museo

Este artista de Chicago intentaba vender sus cerámicas a las galerías de arte. Pero, como solo era un negro más, se debía conformar con vender sus obras en mercados ambulantes. Todo por el color de su piel.

Pero Theaster no estaba de acuerdo. Sabía que sus obras valían más. Así que decidió ocultarse, decir que sus cerámicas las había creado un artista japonés que se refugió en Estados Unidos. Esta historia, por falsa que fuese, le permitiría vender sus obras sin tener que ser juzgado por su color de piel.

Y surtió efecto. A los mismos coleccinistas que en un principio ignoraron sus obras, les encantó. Cuando desveló la tapadera, los coleccionistas quedaron impresionados de la creatividad con la que evitó ser juzgado. Así, logró ser expuesto en los principales museos de todo el mundo, amasando una gran cantidad de dinero.

 

Del museo a la calle

Pero eso no hizo que Theaster Gates cambiara de estilo de vida. Él siguió y sigue viviendo en uno de los barrios más marginales de Chicago y todo Estados Unidos. Y no solo eso, sino que, además, ayuda con su arte a salir adelante.

Con el dinero que obtiene de sus obras, compra y rehabilita las calles abandonas de los suburbios de Chicago, construyendo casas de acogida y fabricando muebles para las mismas.

Aunque transformar barrios y cambiar la vida de muchas personas a través del arte ya de por sí sea mucho, Theaster Gates va más allá. Y es que su historia y su activismo son una forma muy clara del racismo que se vive y de cómo las personas de barrios marginales también son capaces de hacer cosas increíbles.