Dear 1968 by Sadie Barnette

Sadie Barnette Detail from The Living Room, 2017. 

Courtesy of the artist/Manetti Shrem Museum Website

Sadie Barnette is a bay-area based artist who is having her first solo museum show at the Manetti Shrem Museum in Davis, California. The show is scheduled to run until June 30th, 2017. Her work for a series titled Dear 1968, uses family photographs and documents from the recently declassified file on her father Rodney Barnette by the United States of America FBI had gathered after he joined the Black Panther Party. The artist aimed to show that this experience was not just her family's struggle. She uses the formalities seen on the documents to create a wallpaper as the background of some of the works. The wallpaper seems like its just your average decorative wallpaper until you take the time to realize what is really making up the patterns are the stamps that can be seen throughout the over 500 page file used in this series. This series joins the past and the present to look at the relationship between politics and private life. This uses photographs that span several decades to illustrate the familial and familiar side of Rodney Barnette as a counter to the formal and invasive files that were hung just a few feet away. I love that the artist uses small gems reminiscent of the stick on earrings that were really popular in the 1990's to highlight parts of the document that she wants to draw attention to. Sadie Barnette uses a very bright and fluorescent pink as the accent color that counters all of the black and white of the documents. This takes the piece to an aesthetic place that I have really been enjoying seeing used in films lately. I really like this exhibit. I really am not familiar with the details of the Black Panther movement but this exhibition made me feel embarrassed about that. It made me come face to face with a part of history that I should really know more about because the movement and causes are still relevant and important for today. I really look forward to hearing more about the future exhibitions of this artist. I have a feeling that she will be an artist to keep an eye on!