AZIKIWE MOHAMMED & CLAUDIA RANKINE ON UTOPIA

AM: Well, I think one of the most important things we can do, especially as humans in the arts, is to replace "for" with "with."

CR: "With"?

AM: Yeah, with. That's how things get fixed. I'm just the same as anybody else that would be coming to a show or event. Most of our problems are the same, so why don't I try to address your while you help address mine and we can jump a bit further? 

     My entry to art was through the lens of service. My father was an event slash school-portrait slash public-institution photographer. He worked to generate and preserve memories for people who were busy making them. For my show last fall at Knockdown Center in Queens, I included a makeshift photo studio. I was there almost every day. As visitors came by, I offered to take impromptu portraits of whoever needed to see themselves. I had a similar studio setup for two months in Harlem this summer. The goal was to make physical prints for people who haven't traditionally had access to formal photography services. That was more people than I anticipated. 

Azikiwe Mohammed, “Michelle” (2017), from Armor Photo Studio: House Visits Welcome

Azikiwe Mohammed, “Haley” (2017), from Armor Photo Studio: House Visits Welcome (image courtesy of Azikiwe Mohammed)

CR: Could you speak to the kind of memory grabbing that you're doing?

AM: In 2015, I created an imaginary town called New Davonhaime. The name combines those of five cities in America with some of the highest Black-population densities, as determined by census data. I took letters and sound from each of these locations - New Orleans; Detroit, Birmingham [Alabama]; Jackson [Mississippi]; Savannah [Georgia] - and moved them around until I made something that sounded like a real place. "New" evokes people coming from somewhere who want to hold on to parts of that other place, but also want to make a version that's a little better. 

I visited many of these five cities as I could in two and half weeks. I asked people, "What are your issues?" "What's wrong?" "This is what I'm doing - does this work?" Most responses were pretty simple: "I don't see enough of myself out there and the versions that I do see I'm not happy with. There are some things I like, and I would like to see more of those things."

CR: I've read that you didn't want this town to be thought of as a utopia. Because utopias are never realized, right?

AM: A utopia is a fantasy into which you dump all of your wishes and dreams which ultimately functions like a scapegoat. I wanted to envision something that could actually work. You don't work to make a utopia happen. You might work to make something based on a utopia, but you accept that whatever you come up with will be four or five steps behind. You have to acknowledge failure as part of the plan. 

Currently, New Davonhaime's only brick-and-mortar offering is my store, Jimmy's Thrift of New Davonhaime. 

http://new.azikiwephoto.com/

http://clocktower.org/person/dj-black-helmet