The Seed 44.0
In the October 2009 issue of “For the 44th on the 4th,” artists Sameeah Muhammad and John Sims ask us to think about what lays below the surface of the new presidency. Have we uprooted ourselves as a nation from old ways of being and knowing? Are our same roots now growing different ways? Has something new been planted with the installment of 44th President Barack Obama? Visit www.LetterToObama.com on the 4th of every month for more Letters.
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“HAPPY” and “DIFFERENT WAYS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE”
SAMEEAH MUHAMMAD
HAPPY
We marveled at his diesel effort
to work three days and nights consecutively
fueled only by juice and water –
at the space of his face,
black, breathing nostrils
his smile a sprawl –
deeply aware,
like a man seeing his tentacles.
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DIFFERENT WAYS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE
You could live it as a psychotic.
Night staining into day
wouldn’t slow your thinking’s
frightening speed.
And if it did, just before
you fell asleep.
Or you could live like a recluse—
darkness overtakes the recluse.
Lamplight distills your excitement,
because night is truth,
and you’ve left the world
unfinished on the office floor.
You could be a scientist,
though scientists don’t work well with wrong starts.
You need to prepare from the very beginning,
never delve too deep
into that zero, fear.
Because it is also possible to live in fear,
which is either arrested development,
or a knowledge that never changes.
It whispers:
we may never be talking about
quite the same thing;
dying is one more option.
ARTIST. STATEMENT.
The poems relate to the new presidency because they, too, are about starting from scratch. Both focus on uprooting the problem of living in fear, which, to me, amounts to humanity’s fundamental struggle. If Obama’s inauguration truly does mark the onset of better national ideals, and a more humane quality of life, the struggle ahead lies in our ongoing negotiation with fear, and our willingness to imagine health and happiness as givens for ourselves and others.
“SQUAREROOTS: A QUILTED MANIFESTO”
JOHN SIMS
MYSQUAREROOTS
HYPERQUILT
ARTIST. STATEMENT.
American Quilting is the magical space where the essence of mathematics, art and community come together in a very material way. We see this most powerfully and elegantly in the quilt works of the Amish and African American communities. Using the quilt as a metaphor for social coexistence, I have created a collection of mathematically based quilts. “SquaresRoots: A Quilted Manifesto” is my attempt to celebrate and reflect upon both the ethnic and intellectual heritage that frames the way we navigate the challenges and beauty of this life.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
SAMEEAH MUHAMMAD graduated from George Washington University in 2008 with a degree in English and Creative Writing. She now works at the Safe Space Youth Drop-In Center in Far Rockaway, Queens, and plans to continue in the field of social work. Ultimately, she sees herself going back to school for Education.
JOHN SIMS, a native of Detroit, is a conceptual artist, mathematician, curator and educator, who works in the areas of mathematical art, public timesculptures and icons of white supremacy. Sims is a Math-Artist who seeks to advance a mathematical art that explores subject matters in a philosophic-metaphoric context. By cross pollinating symbols and ideas that are both cultural and mathematical, he seeks to promote a deeper visual and conceptual critique of objects of both nature and mind.
“For the 44th on October 4th: The Seed 44.0″ by M. Liz Andrews, Sameeah Muhammad, John Sims is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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