Lorraine Bonner
Bio: I was born into trauma, and to survive I sacrificed my heart and strengthened my mind. My mind carried me through education and work, and then, halfway through my life, clay slipped into my hands and began to reawaken my heart. My biography begins anew each day.
Artist Statement: I’m not going to talk about rights. The struggle for rights exists only within a framework of hierarchy and supremacism, in which the powerful have rights and others must constantly fight to win them, over and over and over again.
Freedom for ourselves and our children requires us to recognize and abandon this often invisible but universal system of malignant individualism, and to create, or rather rediscover, entirely different ways of organizing human life.
Instead of rights, I would like to talk about the African concept of Ubuntu, which means “I am because we are.” Instead of a struggle for power, I call for an ecological network of “we,” in which I am a node between the collaborative project which is my body and the collaborative project which is our culture and community; within the tapestry of all our relations: the animals and plants, the insects, birds and fish, even the bacteria and fungi; the pulse of earth and sky and water; the inhalations and exhalations of bright stars and dark endless cosmos, ancestors whose consciousness pervades the universe.
I am, we are, because all of this is. Art, music, dance, poetry live within the sacred rhythm and harmony of Ubuntu, beating in the heart of each of us, connecting us, making us whole.
I am not the only one saying this.
1. “Privilege,” clay, bullet, barbed wire, 17"x14"x12", 2009
Reflection Questions:
What emotions does this sculpture spark for you? What are some ways we see privilege showing up today?
2. "World Trade," clay, 8"x30"x20", 2002
Poem & Reflection Questions:
This note/poem from the artist accompanies this sculpture:
When the Towers fell
there was shock
grief for the lost
and the loved ones
and I felt also
a sense of empathy
for the attackers.
---
What memories does this image bring up for you? Have your views and understanding of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks shifted over the years?
3. “Eat Your Gold,” clay, 18"x9"x11", 2011
4. “Benjamins,” clay, barbed wire, $100 bills, 16"x11"x15", 2010
This poem from the artist accompanies this sculpture:
"Benjamins"
the dead presidents ride me
like slavery never ended
my eyes in prison
so much I'm not supposed to see
tottering legs strain
to keep the whole cruel mess up
mouth in bondage
breath cut off
if you can bear to look at me
know you are not alone
5. “Scapegoat,” clay, barbed wire, 24"x10"x7", 2010
This poem from the artist accompanies this sculpture:
"Scapegoat"
Pay no attention
to that one on the top
the one with his mouth
full of the world
If you are hungry
only look at this fellow
the one with the target
dark
full of wickedness
jam his head into prison
push him out
into the thorny wilderness
then we will be safe
then there will be plenty
for all
The one on the top
laughs and laughs
6. “Internalized Perpetration,” clay, 13"x13"x10", 2001
This note/poem from the artist accompanies this sculpture:
The perpetrator mind trick:
If you are the victim of someone
more powerful than you,
you have no one to blame
but yourself
for their violence.
7. “Wounded Healer,” clay, 19"x12"x16", 2017
Reflection Questions:
What are some examples of what healing the earth and humanity look like?
8. “Merciful Tapestry,” clay, snakeskin, dreadlocks, rhyolite lava, 21"x12"x15", 2014
Reflection Questions:
How can we find mercy in art? What type of art calls to you the most?
9. "We Are More Than Even We Know," Multi-Hued Humanity series, 21"x12"x9"
Reflection Questions:
Where do you see compassion, brilliance, courage, and genius in your community?
We Are More Than Even We Know
In the future, history teachers will also be grief counsellors
for children bewildered and sorrowful over us.
Every part of our lives will grieve them:
gasoline, coca cola, body cams.
Only a few will study incarceration,
and only in small groups
with the most compassionate mentors.
Our calendar passes by the holidays
they will celebrate
days when grace filled our trembling souls
and we became their ancestors.
We don’t know yet how it will happen
the flowering:
Heart and mind
Compassion and brilliance
Courage and genius
The children beg to hear
the thrilling stories
again and again
Reflection Question:
What do gasoline, coca cola, and body cams have in common?