We look, and we’re refreshed – maybe even changed, a little. Our own narrow perspective widens, if only by one degree. Over a lifetime of looking, we can learn to see the world in the round. – Paul Barrow, Permanent Collection
Art is a testament to someone’s vision. This is true whether we are looking at one of Paul Cezanne’s paintings or a traditional Benin mask. This is also true, whether were are listening to Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 314 or Snoop Dogg’s “Gangsta Luv.” But what happens when race plays a determining factor in the value of art?
Permanent Collection – a captivating, eloquent, and provocative meditation on art and race relations in America – considers this question fully. It asks us important and provocative questions: What is good art? Who decides what art gets to be seen? What’s at stake for humanity when we fail to view the world through another person’s eyes?
These challenging and deeply personal questions are played out publicly with humor, passion, reverence, and rage. Producing Artistic Director, Blake Robison noted that “the arguments are sophisticated, and they’re marked by candid and incendiary observations.” He’s absolutely right. Talking about race can be both awkward and terrifying. These types of conversations usually tend to happen somewhere safe and typically not in mixed company.
Despite the fact that slavery, Jim Crow Laws, Segregation, and Separate-but-Equal policies have long been abolished, Race continues to play a dramatic role in our society. With Affirmative Action working to diversify the status quo, anti-discrimination programs to address racial sensitivity, and despite the efforts of many recent social commentators desiring to name this new era, under President Barack Obama, the Post-Racial society, Race continues to influence the ways we interact with each other, and it influences our expectations of one another. At first rehearsal, director Timothy Douglas observed, “when you put a white person and a black person on stage, before they even open their mouths, it’s a play about race.”
As the play comes to an end, the art is left to speak for itself. A simple, but profound gesture that makes me think of the quote that opens this essay: “Over a lifetime of looking, we can learn to see the world in the round.” Arguably, it takes more than just looking at art to appreciate the view. Just as it takes more than just listening to appreciate what someone has to say. This leaves to me to wonder, is it ever possible for any of us to set aside our personal prejudices and inherent racism long enough to appreciate someone else’s point of view and experiences? What’s more, can we ever speak honestly about race in mixed company? I believe it’s possible, and I feel that Permanent Collection is a brilliant ice breaker for that conversation. Enjoy!
Jacqueline Lawton
Dramaturg
