stand·ard·ized
/ˈstandərˌdīz/
verb, past tense of ‘standardize’
caused (something) to conform to a standard, norm.
(First known use, 1882)
artist statement
Years ago I was working on a project with someone who asked me where I was from. I told him, Louisville, Kentucky, to which he replied, “that makes sense, river folk.”
In Langston Hughes’ words, “I’ve known rivers, Ancient, dusky rivers.”1
The Ohio, the Hudson and East rivers, the Seine, the Ganga, the Musi, the Mississippi, the Maipo, the Nantahala. I have chosen (had the privilege) to live on their banks, to feel and witness their flow, to be metaphorically drowned and, sometimes, offered salvation.
My mom would probably say, “I’ve lived.”
James Aldridge’s Queer River practice helps me orient this series. ‘Art that is grounded in listening and witnessing, that allows us to slow down, open up and accept our place within vast interconnected systems, can change our way of seeing the world…’2
What causes me to conform? What/who do I cause to conform? How should I record what I have heard, what I have witnessed? How can I accept and change my ways of seeing, my ways of being in the world?
“In us, there is a river of feelings, in which every drop of water is a different feeling, and each feeling relies on all the others for its existence.”3
“Take me to your river, I wanna go.”4
1 Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" from The Collected Works of Langston Hughes. Copyright © 2002
2 Queer River. queerriver.com. (n.d.). https://queerriver.com/.
3 Hanh, T. N. (1991). Peace Is Every Step. Bantam Books.
4 "River by Leon Bridges on Apple Music". Apple Music.