Erica Sandifer grew up in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Homegrown, as she likes to call it. Her mother, was an English teacher and Artist who bred Sandifer to believe in her mind and the things she could do with it. Sandifer’s father, was a disc jockey and showed her that life is just a handful of opportunity and to open her mind like one would open their hand. She has a deep passion for southern literature and anything involved with such. After interviewing with Mr. Travis Somverville, Sandifer learned that equality is for all and that racial barriers are being torn down by not only the black community, but the white community as well. An evolution, she refers to herself as. Always growing, searching for ways to unite, to empower.
Having made the decision to partake in cultural events that would broaden my horizon all while inspiring my inner artist, I stumbled across a very intriguing article online “Art, Racism, or Both? Upon research for an art viewing hub spot. The headline immediately caught my attention as well an art piece named “Building Balanced Children” that followed as the sub – heading. An image of three young, Caucasian boys balancing themselves, walking in a row along a brick wall portrayed a very vivid understanding of hate. The boys wore cuffed blue jean pants, t – shirts and not to mention, white Klan masks. This photo took my breath away, and by this time I felt that this exhibit could have the ability to excite my interest of Anthropology and the advocating of civil rights so I delved myself into the following paragraphs. The article introduced Travis Somerville, an Atlanta native, and the showcase of his most recent art exhibit, “American Rhetoric.”
The term “rhetoric” is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques which could not describe the valuable reminders in this show more perfectly. Walking into the Beta Pictoris Gallery, I was delightfully greeted by two well dressed men. One took me by the hand and introduced me to the other gentleman. After giving me a grateful smile and shaking my hand, he told me his name was Travis Somerville. Never had I imagined that the artist behind these historic masterpieces would actually be present a day after the opening of the show. He was truly a southern gentleman, so very down to earth. I relayed to him how pleased I was to be in his acquaintance and how I was hoping to meet him to gain a better understanding for inspiration behind The American Rhetoric. Mr. Somerville gave me a short excerpt of his life which reflected perfect images of his childhood in his work. He told me about how he was raised in a very liberal household, purposely steered away from using derogatory terms such as the “N” word in reference to a black person. He talked about how his family viewed racism as opposed to similar households in the community. Somerville’s parents were somewhat advocates for civil rights. Because racism was such a delicate, yet powerful subject during that time, Somerville and his family were forced to constantly migrate across the south. “We were an island of integrity surrounded by hostility,’ Somerville explained.
American Rhetoric
Erica Sandifer and Travis Somerville
Photographer: Guido