Installation view of “Unpacking Sameness,” (2018) in the 15th edition of Art-O-Rama (2021) at the Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille, France, August 27, 2021 to August 29, 2021. The presentation of Unpacking Sameness was awarded the Prix Medeos. Image courtesy of Art-O-Rama.
Unpacking Sameness (2017-2018)
In Unpacking Sameness (2017 - 2018), the social construct of structural racism is given symbolic form in “The Colorline,” a readymade assemblage composed of mirror, industrial chrome, and heavy green velvet drapery. Through performance, photography, moving images, and narration, the series interrogates the cultural politics, language, and dynamics of power found at the root of systemic oppression. Drawing from mid-17th-century techniques in painting and the literary theories of African American author James Baldwin, Unpacking Sameness wraps time and space to examine the cartography and social history(s) of American structural racism as embodied and portrayed through the body, state policy, and myth.
Christie Neptune, Dismantling Man-Made Constructs (2018), Single Channel HD Video and Super 8mm Film to Video Transfer, TRT 11:19 mins.
The video: “Dismantling Man-Made Constructs” (2018), shot on Super 8mm and HD video in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, documents a participatory performance between volunteer participants and Neptune. During the performance, participants were divided into groups of two: white participants as “Colonizers” and non-white participants as “The Colonized.” Participants of the performance were provided a strict list of rules and instructional guidelines on how to assemble or disassemble the “Colorline.” The performance, as ritual, activated a collective consciousness of transcendence. Through shared labor, Neptune and participants worked through the visible and invisible implications of the construct’s myth and, conversely, the aftermath of its collapse.
The Rules:
A “Colonizer” is allowed to construct the assembled piece.
A “Colonizer” can deconstruct the assembled piece only when in collaboration with the “Colonized.”
The “Colonized” can have a portrait taken of them within the gaze of the construct.
The “Colonized” could take a self-portrait within the gaze of the construct.
The “Colonized” can deconstruct the assembled construct.
The “Colonized” can choose not to deconstruct the assembled construct in collaboration with a “Colonizer.”
Installation view of “Unpacking Sameness,” (2018) in the 15th edition of Art-O-Rama (2021) at the Friche la Belle de Mai in Marseille, France, August 27, 2021 to August 29, 2021. The presentation of Unpacking Sameness was awarded the Prix Medeos. Image courtesy of Art-O-Rama.
Christie Neptune, Mirror and Show Pieces (2017), Digital Chromogenic Print, 24 x 36 in (60.96 x 91.44 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Christie Neptune, The "Colorline," ™ a readymade assemblage composed of mirror, industrial chrome, and heavy green velvet drapery, varying dimensions, 1 edition.
Christie Neptune, a close-up of The "Colorline," ™ a readymade assemblage composed of mirror, industrial chrome, and heavy green velvet drapery, varying dimensions, 1 edition.
Christie Neptune, Head Bowed in Assembled Construct (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 36 x 24 in (91.44 x 60.96 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Installation view of “Unpacking Sameness,” (2018) in solo exhibition at NutureArt (Brooklyn, NY), September 8, 2018 to October 7, 2018. Image courtesy of NutrureArt.
Christie Neptune, Sugar Cane and Drapery by Trading Warehouse (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 20 x 30 in (50.8 x 76.2 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Installation view of “Unpacking Sameness,” (2018) in solo exhibition at NutureArt (Brooklyn, NY), September 8, 2018 to October 7, 2018. Image courtesy of NutrureArt.
Christie Neptune, Sitting Like Gordon with Bare-Front, Indigo and Shutter Release in Hand (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 20 x 20 in (50.8 x 50.8 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Christie Neptune, James Baldwin Quote (2018), single-channel HD video. A quoted text from Baldwin’s essay entitled “The White Man's Guilt” (published in Ebony Magazine in 1965) runs in a 35-second loop: “I concluded long ago that they found the color of my skin inhibitory. This color seems to operate as a most disagreeable mirror, and a great deal of one's energy is expended in reassuring White Americans that they do not see what they see.” 3 Editions.
Christie Neptune, Exposing My Limits behind America's Curtain (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 24 x 36 in (60.96 x 91.44 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Christie Neptune, Faux legitimacy (2018), Text on Paper with Pin, 8.5 x 11 in (13.97 x 27.94 cm), 1 edition.
Christie Neptune, Untitled Assembled Man-Made Construct (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 24 x 36 in (60.96 x 91.44 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Christie Neptune, Hardware and Construct In Parts I (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 30 x 30 in (76.2 x 76.2 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Christie Neptune, Self by Trading Warehouse With Drapery (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 20 x 30 in (50.8 x 76.2 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Christie Neptune, Sitting Like Delia with Bare-Front, Indigo and Shutter Release in Hand (2018), Digital Chromogenic Print, 20 x 20 in (50.8 x 50.8 cm). 3 Editions + 2 AP Prints.
Public performance “Unpacking Sameness,” (2018) at NutureArt (Brooklyn, NY), Friday, October 5, 2018. Image courtesy of NutrureArt.
Post public performance “Unpacking Sameness,” (2018) at NutureArt (Brooklyn, NY), Friday, October 5, 2018. The structure remained this way throughout the remainder of the exhibition. Image courtesy of NutrureArt.
Related Reading
“Formations of the Self” exhibition catalog, Shirley Fiterman Art Center.
“Dismantling the structure, however, neither reveals a utopian backdrop for equality nor symbolizes a lofty aspiration. It is a reckoning with harsh truths. It brings to light a history of white violence, oppression, and systemic injustice. When I say this, I refer directly to Exposing My Limits behind America’s Curtain, Sitting Like Gordon With BareBack, Indigo and Shutter Release in Hand, and Sugar Cane and Drapery by Trading Warehouse. In Exposing My Limits behind America’s Curtain, I am sitting atop a metal stool, facing an acrylic sheet held in position by industrial chrome. My hands are pressed flat against its surface. Green drapery hung from an unseen rod partially obscures my back and creates a shared space with the viewer. In the absence of the assembled power structure: “The Colorline,” I highlight the dehumanizing and seemingly brutal effects of slavery, capitalism, and Western colonialism.” —Christie Neptune
Read more in interview with Lisa Panzera, Director of BMCC Shirley Fiterman Art Center: https://bit.ly/3ybIYWB