I Want to Be Influential: A Great Sunday in Brooklyn

Are you standing in someone's else's light? Reflecting...Drawn like a gypsy moth to their fire when you could be generating your own?

The Mighty Mos Def once remarked that you should not only "shine your light on the world," but "shine your light for the world to see." At the Corridor Gallery this past Sunday for the "Brooklyn Influence" exhibit featuring the portraiture of lensman Jamel Shabazz, I was struck by how each of his subjects seemed to emit a certain light.

Now maybe that's just Shabazz's extraordinary documentary touch at work, but it's probably a combination of both. Somewhere in the gallery literature, I read that the borough claims the highest concentration of artists, activists, and entrepreneurs. It sure feels that way.

The light was blinding.

The show, running through Nov. 7, is curated by Raquel Wilson in conjunction with the community arts organization Dope Swan to commemorate the anniversary of “A Great Day in Brooklyn” and “Another Great Day in Brooklyn.” (Rapper/Actor/Activist Mos Def, above, by Jamel Shabazz)

Even When "I'm a Mess", I Put On a Vest With an 'S' on My Chest

There's something highly comical and just refreshing about putting your mess where people can see it.

That's exactly what artist Natalie Osborne did in a room adjacent to the Corridor Gallery's main foyer, as part of the newly opened exhibit "Strictly Regulated". The group show highlights the work of six emerging female artists and runs concurrent with the exhibit "Brooklyn Influence".

Osborne's video series and installation "I'm a Mess: Finding My Pace" (wall detail, above) confronts the notion of the black superwoman: a towering pile of shirts, shoes, and frocks is thrown into a corner of the gallery. Kinda looked like my bedroom on a Monday morning, lol.

You have to see the entire piece for yourself, but from now on when the kryptonite's got me down if you ask me how I'm doin', I'm just gonna say, I'm a mess, and finding my pace. So much more liberating, don't you think? [Laughs]