On “felt real black might delete later”, in the artist’s own words…

This poem evolved after watching the now countless deaths  and injustices of Black people be reported and replayed on screens large and small during the summer of 2020. It began late one night as New York City streets lay empty with many storefronts boarded up.  After witnessing the energy, passion, pain, and electricity that surrounded and rose from protest in my neighborhood, borough, city, state, country and globally, a message of solidarity, comradery, love, and legacy began to emerge. The results of racial inequality had reached the surface. There was no denying the history of horror Black life endured nor denying the triumphs a people can still achieve. With these words I sought to find comfort in the discomfort, love in the hate, and life in the deaths. The three included images also offer a response to, respect for, and acknowledgment of those brief yet lasting moments that spark movements. 

Daniel Marcellus Givens - “felt real black might delete later”, is presented here as a 6 page poem with drawings in tabloid newsprint form in a screen printed envelope with sticker. Edition of 100

Daniel Marcellus Givens (b. 1972 , Chicago, Illinois)

Givens is a visual and sound artist, writer, DJ, and performer currently living in Harlem. Through his interdisciplinary work, he explores the intersectional nature of identity. Inspired by the myths, folklore, urban legends, factual, fictional, and fantastical history that surround Africans in America, his work serves to question the past, imagine alter destinies, and in the process create new pathways to view so-called  “people of color”. His artworks have been shown by Gordon Robichaux Gallery (NYC), among others. He recorded several albums of original music for the Aesthetics label and toured internationally. He has been featured in several publications including GAYLETTER, A Queer Anthology series, and in the Other Music documentary. He collaborated with Laraaji, David Hart, Matana Roberts, Baraka ade Soleil, Darius Jones, Efterklang, and many more. In his own words, “My work is the collision of space and humanity with subject matter that comments on the cross-section of race, gender, spirituality, sexuality, and class in the African diaspora and its interaction with the world at large”