TA-COUMBA T. AIKEN

PEOPLE PLACES CONNECTIONS

Since the age of six I´ve had to prove that art played an important role in my life.
My father saw that I was interested and good at making pictures but feared it would not support me and wanted me to be a lawyer.
My mother as fate would have it suggested that I do a show in the basement. After three days
( six hours ) of people coming to see and buy my work, I earned six hundred fifty seven dollars and thirty-six cents.
My father allow me to continue and use the money for law school.

That early experience in art made me realize that people/strangers and my family found something that had value and that related to them personally.
Those people and circumstances started me on a path of serving people in various ways through my art.

PEOPLE
Who am I? Who are the people around me. How can I use my art to say, " We are here, we exist."
In the early seventies I realized that my people, as well as most ethnic and low income people were under represented in media and television so I made an attempt through my art to do illustration for any events or activities that would uplift the African American people in particular. I needed to create visual stories through my images the would draw the audience to the event.
Even with great success I wanted to paint but was not sure how I could change and keep expanding my audience.
I wanted to create visual honesty and show people in a strong yet sensitive/ deep way.

PLACES
Places can mean, businesses, neighborhoods, cultural designations, religious beliefs, and economic backgrounds.
Can I use art, my personal art to bridge communities that have similar concerns.
I need to find a way to project and inject peoples thoughts and feelings without being preachy.
So I decided to use bright colors, vibrant energy, and celebrate life through art.
My question in the late seventies to the mid-eighties became more about how can I use my art to express and address the deeper needs of our society/communities.
My trip to Lagos Nigeria broaden my view of how art is used in a society but the "ah ha" didn´t come to me.

CONNECTIONS
How do I connect the people that have believe in me with the general audience?
Through my experience in creating murals later known as public art I realized that I had been collaborating with communities in the creation of my art
I received a saint Paul Companies Leadership In Neighborhood Fellowship. During that fellowship I asked the questions. Can art play an integral part in the development of a community? Can it be involved in every aspect of it growth?
It was during this time that I went to Ghana to see if those communities could offer me an answer, a direction. Upon my return excited about my findings I approached Intermedia Arts ( Tom Borrup ), where we created People Places Connection, an exhibition derived from the efforts of several artist. These artist were selected through competition. They had to demonstrated an involvement in their communities with a particular focus on the Lake Street corridor and the Midtown Greenway. they had to work with the communities to see what they thought should be done in the surrounding communities connected to the greenway. This was the Connection as curator to help to create the direction.

FUTURE
It is my hope that the works demonstrated by these artist and myself will continue to strengthen an expand the dialogue and actions that have been created through these collaborations. It is my hope that this type of art in the public trust continues.
To the future and beyond! Ta-coumba Aiken

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