TYANNA BUIE + CHELSEA A. FLOWERS

A Call and Response, 2021
Video collage

What would the Maury show look like in 2020? Does social media reflect the delicious mess that Maury Povich gave us each week? In a time when it feels like 2020 is caping for chaos, we’ve seen perplexing changes in whiteness. Loud, privileged acts of whiteness that directly or indirectly harm Black people and people of color. As a means to combat these acts of whiteness, Tyanna Buie and Chelsea Flowers center Blackness as the cultural foundation. Utilizing video as the method of publication to capture “meme-able” moments, from various platforms on social media Buie and Flowers reclaim the narratives that centers Fem-Identifying Blackness.

With the acknowledgement of Afro-Futurism, we are using technology to consider alternate inclusive versions of the world where the invisible is made visible. Capturing pre-existing racially charged video excerpts derived from social media platforms, and editing our faces onto pre-existing Memes and Giffs referencing Black popular culture. The use of accessible tools such as smartphone applications (ReFace, Momento, and Giphy), we created two video works that are in direct conversation with one another. A call and response.