I Wanna Kill Sam 'Cuz He Ain't My Motherfuckin Uncle, 2010/1993

I Want To Kill Sam 'Cuz He Ain't My Motherfuckin Uncle
Faisal Abdu'Allah, 2010/1993
Acrylic on Aluminum, 78 x 39 in

I'm sitting in my yellow beetle with my dogs in the back seat feeling the nostalgia sweep over me as I go with my dad to the vet clinic. I turn on the radio. It was Wisconsin Public Radio...and I hear an interview between Veronica Reuckert and a British Artist, Faisal Abdu'Allah. I am blown away. What I hear...WHO I hear is an artist who pushes boundaries; an artist who forces the viewer to pick apart their soul, ask themselves about their morals, their prejudice, their ideas about race, masculinity, humanity...real stuff. 

Abdu'Allah had a collection of works in the early 90's called "I Wanna Kill Sam 'Cuz He Ain't My Motherfuckin Uncle." The series portrays black men, in their own urban attire holding their own weapons. The images focus on the body position of the men, all of whom chose their own positioning. Many criticized the collection, saying that Faisal was perpetuating the stereotype that Black Men are violent. They were dumbfounded that in '93 Abdu'Allah would encourage this idea. The artists responded with a lecture discussing these works as mirrors. 

If viewers looked at these images and saw the men as violent black men with guns or baseball bats, then that's what they believed or had been told to believe. What people saw when viewing the image was an incredible indicator of how people were taught to view a black male body. The fear that was instilled when viewing the exhibit had been constructed. Abdu'Allah also speaks about his childhood in London, when his father and grandfather would have to walk in groups home from work so as not to be beaten or worse. Thus it was crucial that these men could defend themselves. So then, what are we really afraid of when we view these images? Perhaps an unraveling of truth. 

THEN, I learn Faisal is also a barber! As he tells the story, he cut the new york skyline into the back of his nephew's head when he was unhappy with his original cut. A well-known barber saw his nephew's hair and asked who had given him the cut. Now Abdu'Allah is well sought-after in London where he has been running a shop for a while.

3o minutes into the interview I learned that Faisal was the current teaching artist at UW Madison, WHICH MEANS...I had been listening to my brother's teacher the entire time!