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What is called the imagination (from image, magi, magic, magician, etc.) is a practical vector from the soul. It stores all data, and can be called on to solve all our “problems.” The imagination is the projection of ourselves past our sense of ourselves as “things.” Imagination (image) is all possibility, because from the image, the initial circumscribed energy, any use (idea) is possible. And so begins that image’s use in the world. Possibility is what moves us.
—Amiri Baraka, “The Revolutionary Theatre”, Liberator, July 1965
Michelle Renee Perkins
Michelle Renee Perkins is a Chicago-based mixed media artist, conjurer, and educator examining the relationship between personal/ancestral narratives, black aesthetics, and black spirituality. Her personal aesthetic is influenced by nature, African sensibilities, and temporal considerations of the body and home as a physical and spiritual dwelling. She believes in the work of cultural guardianship and is dedicated to historicizing and documenting black art and artists. Michelle’s work has been featured in various national group exhibits and is part of Hampton University Museums’ permanent collection. Presently, Ms. Perkins is an Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Malcolm X College, where she teaches studio and lecture-based courses. Michelle is also a Ph.D. candidate in the fields of art theory, and philosophy at the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts.
Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts