Michael Massenburg: Artists are the Voice of the People

Not Real Art

If you’re a regular listener of the Not Real Art Podcast, you’ll likely agree that art has the ability to educate, entertain, provoke thought, and illicit a wide range of emotions. Today’s guest believes that, as long as you can make a viewer feel something, you’re on the right path! Joining us is Michael Massenburg, an African American teaching artist and community organizer. Born in San Diego, raised in South Central Los Angeles, and based in Inglewood, Micheal says that he began his career at the Watts Towers Arts Center in Los Angeles, influenced by the Watts Rebellion, the Black Art Movement of the 1960s, and the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising. His socially-informed practice speaks to historical, cultural, and personal narratives and incorporates a diverse range of materials, combining painting, collage, photography, and assemblage to explore the African diaspora experience in the Americas. Michael is also what you would call an “artivist” (or an art activist), devoting much of his time to art education, lectures, and community organizing. In today’s episode, Michael shares how travel helped shape his perspective, why he believes that he was called to be an artist, and why labels like “Black art” are important. We also discuss how his former arts organization, The Collective, carried the torch for Black artists, and why Michael believes that artists and educators can be a voice for those who have had their own voices suppressed. Tune in for all this and more!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Memories from Michael’s childhood and how his upbringing inspired his love for travel.
• Some of the first journeys he made as an artist, including a life-changing trip to Haiti.
• The “three Americas:” Indigenous people, immigrants, and those brought over as property.
• How traveling shifted Michael’s perspective on what it means to be an African born in America.
• Spiritual Nature, Michael’s exhibition about the African diaspora experience in the Americas.
• Why he chooses to create work about community, family, sociopolitical issues, and history.
• Unpacking Michael’s belief that artists and educators are the voice of the people.
• The story of how he realized that he was called to be an artist.
• How Michael gained his knowledge of business and entrepreneurship.
• The influence that Charles White had on Michael’s decision to study at Otis.
• How The Collective carried the torch for Black artists who are no longer with us.
• Michael’s take on the significance of labels like “Black art.”
• An experience in Barcelona that made Michael recognize art as a common language.
• A look at the Future of Dreams project that he created with a collaborator in Columbia.
• The importance of traveling “without entitlement.”
• Ways that Michael believes artists can minimize the problems of the world.

For more information, please visit http://notrealart.com/michael-massenburg