IMPROVISING WITH COLORFUL REMNANTS Now, O’Arwisters sculpts with broken ceramics and strips of remnant fabric with a clear intention. “These are marginalized materials, objects that are thrown away, detritus. We treat them the same way that American culture treats marginalized people. They are ignored, abused, and disposable. I use these materials as stand-ins for the disposable experience of humans who are disenfranchised within the myth, or better, the lie of the American Dream.” O’Arwisters has observed that the art-world system was designed to confirm and maintain the status quo rather than to support Black artists. “For the majority of my art career, I have been relinquishing my agency over and over again whenever I go to figures of power in the white art world—curators, gallery directors, museum directors—to present to them my work and ask for their approval. Is my work good? Is it worthy of your gallery? Am I good enough?” Realizing this process was no longer working for him, O’Arwisters stopped presenting his work to anyone for a while. “I needed time to reflect, to sit back and re-evaluate, to stop doing the same things and expecting different results. My mother and especially my grandmother made quilts. Contrasting colors and improvisation made their creations like jazz, reflecting the necessity in Black life in the United States to use color to lift the spirits in a hostile environment and to use improvisation to solve problems and situations in a world where opportunities are limited, kept out of reach due to the evils of racism,” he says. This gave him the idea to turn his personal and cultural heritage of quilting and sewing into a public art-making practice.
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