The Light Of Truth
The Light Of Truth (2023) is a series of mixed media works by artist Nicole Dixon highlighting themes from the life and work of the pioneering investigative journalist and civil rights icon Ida B. Wells, which are germane to the black community’s fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness today. Dixon uses charcoal black archetypal figures, natural emblems, and cultural/spiritual symbols to draw an uncomfortably seamless line linking the racialized violence of the past to the racialized violence of the present- in all of its forms. This series is especially poignant today, given the pervasive climate of ignoring uncomfortable/inconvenient truths, re-writing history, and allowing cognitive dissonance to block empathy and basic human decency- even as the deadly truth is recounted and replayed on the daily news. The purpose of this exhibition is to illuminate once again the root causes of the violence that black people have always faced and resisted in this country (and beyond), because as Wells stated, “the way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them”. Dixon’s aim as an artist is to illuminate while alchemizing the suffering- finding the beauty, affirming the purpose, and highlighting the transcendent power inherent in the struggle. Her figures also combat the narratives imposed on black bodies that continue to claim so many lives, as she presents the unapologetic black body as it truly is- empowered, rooted in culture, whole, abundant and spiritual.
This series was commissioned by Chromatic black, a collective of multi-disciplinary artists whose mission is to disrupt the master narrative through good story telling. Dixon began this process with a period of research, including an interview with Paula J. Giddings, author of the consummate biography- A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells And The Campaign Against Lynching. She then outlined seven anchor pieces: three that unpack the act of lynching itself, one that synthesizes Wells’s life in portraiture, and the last three that address themes from Wells’s lived experience as a black woman. Dixon calls attention to the well-documented underlying causes of this continued violence- fear of black collective power, controlling black upward mobility, and the myth of the hypersexual black male, and she explores the concurrent themes of black joy, intersectionality, and deliverance. Dixon created the seven anchor pieces simultaneously, with a layered mixed media technique. The acrylic backgrounds and magazine paper cityscapes form the base of each painting. All of the figures are rendered with charcoal and their clothes assembled with collaged fabrics. The bird and flower totems are painted in watercolor, with the exception of the large graphite raven. Each element has symbolic or cultural significance, amplifying the theme of the piece and the power of each figure.
The reliquary installation allows viewers to confront in a more concrete way one of the most disturbing aspects of racialized violence- the taking and selling of lynching souvenirs. The items in the vintage containers are what lynch mob masses fought to retrieve or purchase to have a keepsake from the murders, and there are countless black bodyparts hidden in white attic/basements today. Dixon uses art as ritual to reclaim in effigy the wholeness of those ancestors, heal their trauma, and help their spirits rest. The winged heart presents a spell from the ancient Egyptian Book Of The Dead as a touchstone for keeping one’s heart as light as a feather throughout all the suffering and trauma faced, in order to protect both our ancestors’ and our own spirits. The Ties That Bind series uses quotes by Baldwin and Lilla Watson to explore the way that oppression binds the oppressor, and the way that trauma and healing alike can be passed through families and communities. The timelines depicting one generation and notable lifetimes prove that we are living in the immediate aftermath of slavery, it is not ancient history. The truths illuminated throughout this exhibition demonstrate that we who do not know (or who refuse to know) our past are condemned to repeat it.