Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Charvis (Abasa) Harrell (Aziz ibn Horace). We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Charvis (Abasa), thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
My current project ” Stuck on Stupid”is a huge 15×4 foot board game that is part of an installation called The Games We Play and the origins behind them will be explored in the gallery space transformed into a toy store, where three huge board games that can actually be played will give the participants the experience of being stereotyped or having to deal with unfair circumstances that are beyond your control, with the intention of having participants experience things outside of their normal comfort zone. The area will have banners and ads that allude to other toys and games and merchandise that represent brutal horrors that children face now and absurd takes on society. Jane Elliots “Blue Eyed/Brown Eyed” experiment that she began to teach to an all white class in Riceville, Iowa on the morning of April 5, 1968, as a way to show third grade children the negative effects of discrimination. This experiment is updated with the brutal realities children face in this modern world as they are viewed as expendable resources
You are not an adult once you step into this space, you become a child ready and encouraged to touch,play, become curious and question. Once you see things with your child like curiosity and experience things for how unfair they can be, hopefully the experience can allow that to guide the adult in you.
Working with children from an undeserved community gives you first hand knowledge of just how difficult it is to overcome the obstacles placed in front of them, so in order to give people an idea of the modern fears and struggle the children go through, I decided it’s important to make art that gives adult a small sense of that experience. The goal is to make adults more patient and understanding when it comes to children, my goal is to make art that is relevant and serves a purpose. I want to say thanks to my kids Kalil, Khary and Daysha.
Charvis (Abasa), love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
” What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, the strength of my art comes from an auto immune disease called Sarcoidosis. A third generation Brick Mason, art became the vehicle to cope with the emasculated condition of losing both good health and a career. Through years of hard work and dedication my collection has been chosen for National Juried Competitions,University shows and solo tours, with works in the collection of several museums and the private collection of Barry Jenkins made on the set of ” The Underground Railroad” and at Black Hall Studios made on the set of “Lovecraft Country” and works represented internationally through Cabinet39 in Flanders, Belgium. I facilitate difficult conversations through art and I also try to provide a representation of overlooked aspects of history. Having kids and watching the information the schools were given them,I felt it important to give them a type of history and belonging that the education system didn’t.
I toured the Mid West for a few Months last year, Missouri to Minnesota and it was an extremely humbling experience and now I’m finally rested up enough and ready to live on the road again.
: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
Awareness for understanding. Misinformation has always been at the root of most problems when a society has little interactions with other ,cultures ignorance can breed animosity. To bring awareness for understanding I make art that engages the community , most people think of art as decor instead of the powerful tool it can actually be, people can learn from projects in social practice in hopes that people can see the common threads in each other, but it’s also extremely important to pay tribute to the heroes of the past that went unrecognized.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
My friend introduced me to “Century of the Self”, and that had a huge impact upon the way I viewed things. It is easy to think things are the way they are by coincidence, but to know that almost everything around you is a type of psychological warfare upon your free thoughts. You are constantly bombarded with propaganda with the hopes of you conforming and not being the type of individual to question society. It’s a cycle we are in called ” Bread and Circuses ” once you see a documentary like Century you will not be able to see the world the same.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://zhrvys.com/
- Instagram: abasaaziz
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC9-DAxuTG96l0JgQWysIuGg
- Other: zhrvys.com
Image Credits
Charvis Harrell