Denim Family (2023)
VHS video, archive magazine collage, animated by hand.
As Jannah Handy of BLK MKT VINTAGE said best, denim is often portrayed in American media as a “raceless” staple of American fashion. Some staples of Americana are recognized as having roots in indigenous cultures by the general public, despite opaqueness. For example, the appropriation of patterns originally created by Indigenous people who lived in North America and use of their caricatured likenesses in sports memorabilia and other clothing comes to mind. While the names of the Nations these patterns originate from are often lost on Americans, it is widely understood that they predate Western colonization.
Denim is largely looked at as having its symbolic roots solely in fiction, ranging from depictions of cowboys (popularized by John Wayne) to the white rebel archetype (popularized by James Dean). These fictional depictions and their monolithic presence contribute to the erasure of the black history of denim and the legacy of young activists and farmers who originally championed it.
Denim Family is a work engaging with the largely erased history and symbolism of denim as the fabric of black youth and the working class. It is a symbol that represents the rejection of race and gender-based hierarchies. Subjects of focus are the fabric itself, originally named ‘Negro Cloth’, and the Indigo dye from the West African slaves who carried the knowledge of its cultivation to the United States. The rejection of respectability politics found in streetwear today traces back to the black women-run political movements of the 60s, namely the SNCC, and by extension the black field workers who came before them.
— Rasheed LaPointe
