Halim A. Flowers
The Revolution Will Be Digitized
January 11 - March 7, 2021
About the Exhibition
Plain Sight presents its inaugural exhibition, featuring Halim A. Flowers, who delves into the illumination and obscurity of a revolution in the age of modern-day social media. Using a combination of visual art and spoken word, the artist offers an updated take on Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 protest anthem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Much like Scott-Heron, Flowers reflects on the unreliability of media in its documentation of civil movements and justice for Black bodies. Both lament that change must occur in person and through action, not observation through screens. Flowers, however, further critiques media for its modern-day manifestations across smartphone apps, streaming platforms, and meme configurations. As Plain Sight’s inaugural exhibition, The Revolution Will Be Digitized includes an accompanying audio recording that allows viewers both to see the artwork and listen to Flowers perform his spoken word poem of the same name. The poem references and pays homage to Scott-Heron’s own with its tempo and candor, and 1970’s-style percussion. Click the button below to listen to Halim’s spoken word performance.
This exhibition is presented in collaboration with HOMME boutique and gallery.
About the Artist
Halim A. Flowers (b. Washington, DC, 1980) creates work that explores themes of race, politics, history, and economics. A visual artist, spoken word poet, businessman, and author of eleven published non-fiction works, Flowers is an ardent advocate for human rights and is best known for his quote, “Love is the Antibody.”
“I am a ‘Superpredator.’ After being sentenced to life in prison at the age of 16, this is the title that I was given. Held in a cage for 22 years, I began crafting my method of artistic expression to find some sense of peace in a hopeless place. [Now,] I use the language of the visual arts and spoken word to further my love revolution. I believe that love is the antibody to all social inequalities. I use my creativity to destroy social constructs that create hatred, with the weapon of radical love. Poetry, spoken word, photography, and paintings are my weapons of artistic mass construction.” -Halim A. Flowers.
Recently, Flowers has worked with Kim Kardashian for her documentary The Justice Project, performed with Kanye West at his famous Sunday Service, and received the Halcyon Arts Lab and Echoing Green fellowships. His work is currently featured in the exhibition Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration at MoMa PS1. Flowers regularly speaks at universities and conferences around the country about the impact of the arts and entrepreneurship to correct our criminal injustice system. He is represented by DTR Modern Gallery and Stella Jones Gallery for his visual art practice.
