Dindga McCannon

thumb Dindga McCannon (born 31 July 1947) is an African-American artist born and raised in New York. She has had a multifaceted career as a fiber artist, muralist, teacher, author, and illustrator. McCannon co‑founded Where We At, a collective of Black women artists, in 1971. Quotes I have to fight on so many levels. I was a single parent, I was an artist, I was a woman – there were so many fights I had to deal with You find your way through years and years of practice and the process of working, and eventually you find your own voice I’ve always equated my relationship with art with a long love affair The thing with me and mediums, as a creative person, I didn’t want to be stuck as a painter or stuck as a sculptor. Some artists don’t have a problem with that. But there’s so much to explore artistically and I didn’t want to cut myself off for myself, as an artist, I just want a bigger playing field one thing about artists is that we are usually pioneers My theme is never give up Through art, if you can show someone how to create something, it gives them empowermen I have a different sense of self that wouldn’t allow me to be intimidated by other peoples’ opinions Dindga McCannon – interview: ‘Not having money never stopped me creating what I wanted’ (18 October 2022) I was becoming an activist and learning about myself as an African American and trying to unlearn some of the negative things I had been taught about the roles of African Americans in America Having natural hair at that time was another battlefield, minefield I felt at the time, I was fighting too many battles. I was fighting for my rights as an African American in America; I was fighting for my right to make art as a woman artist; I was fighting to survive on a daily basis , I was fighting about my hair; and fighting to be a successful single parent. Africa was not a place where people lived in the jungle but an advanced country with an incredible history It’s different when you go to a place where everybody is black. The bank people are black, the people who sweep the streets are black, all the store owners are black, the president is black. It’s almost paradise, it’s just so different. You read about it and all of that, but until you’ve been surrounded by that, you don’t quite understand I wasn’t identifying as a feminist artist because in those days, to be a feminist meant that you were a white woman who more than likely had a husband you were bitching about because of the fact that you could not paint When I was doing nudes, I would never paint them white; they would be green, they would be blue, they would be every color but white because I was in this mindset of, Why does it have to be white all the time? There’s other colors in the rainbow An Oral History with Dindga McCannon by Philip Glahn (3 August 2020) I had no idea that women weren’t supposed to be artists or anything about the art world It was a very prejudiced world back then—not that things have changed all that much since then I wanted to paint Black people because that was natural to me art to me is a universal tool. It also has a healing factor The legacy that I want to leave is that if you love something and if you pursue something and if you don’t mind working insane hours indefinitely and forever, you can be successful Dindga McCannon in Conversation (28 September 2022) External links Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Artists from New York City Category:20th-century African-American women Category:21st-century African-American women