Above:pochoir print portrait of Grace Lee Boggs - multi-layer stencil print hand rendered by internationally-recognized Detroit artist Eno Laget
FALL INTERVIEW - This may look like a lot of brush-stroked paint lines or white and blue Sharpie on a campaign sign, but nothing could be further from the truth. This is a multilayer stencil print that was hand-cut -- every skinny mini, itsy bitty, teeny tiny little line -- by printmaker, master artist, Cass Corridor contemporary and agent of street mischief, Eno Laget /EE-no/ /lÉ™-GAY/.
Few other people on the planet are widely known for use of similar attention to line work in stencil-making. But Eno's process is more exacting and may even be evolutionary. His inspirations are too (sneak peek Property Relations, Robocop, A Redeemer, and Detroit Street Art at arthausdetroit.com).
Let's hear what he has to reveal about his motivation why it matters in America. Right here. Right now.
Her power was in her ability to use words to get people to think and particularly critically think about why things are the way they are and how they might change. -Eno Laget
I enjoy contemplating pieces that you can't just take at face value. To the contrary, if I took the work above without thinking about it very much, I'd say that I see a portrait of an old or older woman of color that was maybe rendered with white paint and a brush or...maybe white enamel marker on what's definitely a noisy and wordy background. Overall, a cool portrait illustration with edgy white strokes on a multicolor field. Done. And that would be the beginning and the end of it.
Yet, I wanted to really give the painting the time of day, the questions that would come to mind would be, "Why her? Is this about the painting technique or the subject? Who is this and why is she featured in this painting? And is this like a Kehinde Wiley where the subject is [to be seen as] an anyman...anywoman? Or is this someone I don't recognize but should already know?" What would be your questions?
There's a lot going on here texturally, and I don't imagine it's all arbitrary to the artist, or to be arbitrary to us. So, I asked the artist.
THIS INTERVIEW FIRST APPEARED IN THE SUBSCRIBER NEWSLETTER FOR ARTHAUS:Detroit.
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RECOGNIZING HUMANITY
ARTHAUS:Detroit (AD): Eno, what would you say to the question? Who is this? Is there a simple answer, or something more complicated?
Eno Laget (EL): It's probably a little bit lengthy.
AD: Okay.
EL: I guess it comes down to...certain people who are interested in history, particularly Detroit history as it relates to social issues and civil rights, they may immediately recognize who she is, and either they have a regard or an appreciation for who she was and what she did over her long life and career in Detroit...or not. So, doing a portrait of her...either you will engage with her, not knowing who she is, just based on the look in her eye and just what her countenance is in that portrait.
It was interesting, when Austen Brantley [saw it, he] engaged with it immediately -- this sculptor...from Detroit -- he found her hands, for the way they were positioned and the way they were drawn, to be very expressive. And what he saw in the face, and the fact that her mouth was open, it was like she was in the process of communicating. So it's like more than a portrait. It was more like a communication going on.
In, like, a standard portrait, usually the person's mouth isn't open like they're talking. It's more like a kind of epic pose, and that's not what this is. It's more...almost like capturing a moment.
AD: A moment in or of what?
EL: A moment of her communicating her sense of priority and reality, and what's important. She made her living, her life, about words. So words...it looks like they were coming out of her mouth.
AD: You mentioned the look she seems to be giving in this portrait. Think about that, and tell us what you interpret that look to mean.
On Meaning is a seasonal interview series featured in ARTHAUS:Detroit's newsletter where I chat with local artists, like Alana Carlson (winter/spring) and Ron Rodriguez (summer), who've created compelling work steeped in meaning. You'll find those conversations here.
EL: What I see in her face is engagement. And because she was a public intellectual, her power was in her ability to use words to get people to think and particularly critically think about why things are the way they are and how they might change. And words are power, is really what it comes down to. And that her mouth is moving implies that she's not at rest. She's engaged, she's speaking to somebody. And a lot of that has something to do with finding the words to express what you can't quite see at the moment, yet you know there's more than what is going on right now, and it has everything to do with moral imagination. It's the idea that it's reaching for the next place that brings us all closer together. I think that's what it's about.
AD: I'm thinking, I'm listening, and taking in what you are saying, thinking about her using words to engage her audience, whomever that might be. As well, that everyone has different tools that are suited to them for engaging others.
EL: Yeah. The whole idea is to engage in conversation.
AD: Some people will engage others with their paintbrush or pen, may not say anything while they're working, or even when they're done, to let the work speak for itself. Others will engage with movement or motion. Some will engage with scripted theater. Others will engage with lyric, music, or both. But there are those who engage purely by use of the word, be that written, spoken, or both. And so, you're articulating that words were her medium and that what you're encapsulating is the artist using her medium to engage others in critical thought.
EL: Yeah. But as soon as you are willing to engage in a critical thought, that means you're willing to examine your own sense of reality. And when you see that thinking needs to adjust to the reality that you see in front of you, because the way that you have been seeing doesn't work --
AD: Doesn't line up with what's actually happening.
EL. Yeah. When you see what's happening requires different thinking, having the courage to let go of an idea that may have worked before but doesn't work anymore, it requires a lot of courage to reach for whatever the next thing is, even though you can't exactly see it. When you have to find other ideas to move things forward in a more sustainable way that works better for everybody.
If the goal is to take care of each other, some things obviously work better than others. Some ways of acting. Some ways of thinking. You know? Why don't people have more empathy for people who are not like them? And how do you go about changing systems or policies that don't serve everybody. And when you come to the conclusion that the way you've been problem-solving is not working, what do you do? I mean, [people in] our country have a habit of solving problems with violence. Things aren't going the way we want, so we just better kill those people that don't agree with us, or get 'em out of the way; they don't belong here.
Why don't people have more empathy for people who are not like them? - Eno Laget
EL: What's great about her...one of her quotes that's on the smaller poster (above) is, "Don't get stuck in old ideas." It's like constantly acknowledging that things are changing and we need to be able to move, when you see the opportunity to move, to make a difference, need to do something.
AD: This is Grace Lee Boggs, we're talking about. It looks to me, and sounds to me, like this child of Chinese immigrants, wife of Jimmy Boggs, community activist and longtime resident of Detroit, used her words for mobilization.
EL: Exactly. Organizing and actually getting people on the same page, to be able to come together to make changes. It's like one person can't do much by themselves, but if enough people organize around an idea or a goal, they can change thinking, change minds, change lives.