WEBVTT

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- Anyone who spends a lot of
time in their garden or farm,

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whatever or out in nature,

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and see the cycles that
we're on a cycle too.

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And so, we are
in, I don't think,

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it's not the autumn of our
lives or closer to the,

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coming to winter,
but that's okay.

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- Kind of mid to late
fall is where we are.

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- Part of my artistic journey
is that I love to read.

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And from reading, I've dreamed
about becoming a writer.

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- I was born into this
family of artists.

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I was encouraged to follow my
passions in art and nature,

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and have been drawing for
the last almost 70 years.

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I describe myself
as a visual artist,

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creating artwork that you have

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to see to experience many
times though to feel.

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- I love to incorporate aspects
of nature in my writing.

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I have a garden, and I
spent a lot of time there,

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and so the writing
process, to me,

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mirrors the process of the
earth, the germination,

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and the caring for.

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- We met, I'm not gonna
say the year, 'cause.

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(both laugh)

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- I can remember vaguely.

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(both laugh)

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- We met at one of
the first meetings

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of an organization of
African American journalists.

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It was a group of
artists like myself.

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I thought the revolution
was going to happen almost

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in the next week
after we met, but--

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- I never thought it was.
- No, she didn't, but I did,

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and we became friends.

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So, we have been working
in collaboration now

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for over 30 years and
creating these pieces

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that have text in them,

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that Soyini composes
the text for.

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Working with Ta-coumba Aiken,

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we decided to
create these pieces

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that would be embedded in the
sidewalk on Nicollet Mall,

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that would tell these
stories of these folks

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who came before.

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In a way, it was our way of
acknowledging the ancestors.

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Ta-coumba and I
created the forms

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and Soyini created the text,

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and we followed kind
of the same path when

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we were commissioned
to create the piece

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at the Minneapolis
Sculpture Garden.

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You know, all these
shadows that we created,

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allow folks to be able
the stand in the shadows

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of our ancestors.

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We also collaborated on a
poem on the Dale Street stop,

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that's almost an ode
to this neighborhood.

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- It's really the public
part of public art,

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that's really intriguing to me.

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It's public and people
can read it for free,

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and hopefully, if they read it,

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then it resonates in
some level with them.

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- Nah, I forgot what
I was gonna say.

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(both laugh)

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Now, you know, that has
nothing to do with aging.

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You know, I was complaining
one time to my mother.

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I said, "Mom, I'm starting
to lose my memory."

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And she said, "Oh,
you've been like

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that since you were a kid,
you can't remember anything."

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(both laugh)

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- Seitu says his two
harshest critics.

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(Seitu laughs)

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He says, my mother and you.

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(both laugh)

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- Yeah, yeah,
there's no question

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about how deep my
mother's love was for me,

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and I have no question on how
deep my wife's love is for me.

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But they were two of the
hardest women in my life.

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I mean, I can't tell you,

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like the critiques and criticism
that I got that shaped me.

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My mother died just a couple
years ago at 90 years old.

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We were so fortunate and
blessed here in Minnesota,

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in this land of disparities,

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that my mother and father
built up some wealth

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to pass on to us.

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And so now, it is
our responsibility to
do that same thing.

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You know, last year and
I had a health hiccup,

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I was diagnosed with
prostate cancer,

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and I had to slow down.

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That was this big
lesson to really focus

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on this next season.

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I'm not going to accelerate
the pace of what I'm doing,

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but I am more
laser-focused on it,

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that you should leave your
community more beautiful,

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than you found it.

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The Black Gate will be this
institution based right here

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in Frogtown, that will
have a studio space,

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and will have two residences
on top, two apartments,

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that will be
dedicated to artists.

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This will be the site
of the Black Gate.

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- We have been recipients
of artist residencies.

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Whoever owned those lands,

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they made really
intentional decisions

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to leave that land
there for the future.

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And we just thought, "Okay,
we have this piece of earth,

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and what can we do to
make a broader and deeper

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and more lasting impression?"

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We want to have
something for the future.

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- It will have a small space
that will contain our library

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and our archive.

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So photos, contracts,

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communications back and forth,

06:37.366 --> 06:42.133 align:left position:25% line:83% size:65%
that will help folks
coming after us

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to understand a career, to
understand our path as artists.

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We're establishing with other
African American artists

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in particular and other artists

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that are archiving their work

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that are wanting to have
a say in their legacy,

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all of that is sacred.

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What we want to leave
behind is the same thing

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that our ancestors left for us.

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Black Gate is this legacy,

07:21.600 --> 07:26.433 align:left position:22.5% line:83% size:67.5%
but we're not gonna
be working on this

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for all of our lives.

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You know, I still
want to make art.

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I still would like to
spend more time in nature.

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We're just now
getting into birding.

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I love fishing, and
we love to travel.

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There are all these things
still that we wanna do,

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and to see and check out.
- I'm very curious.

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- Yeah.
- So, I'm just curious

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about what's gonna
happen this evening.

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(both laugh)

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The curiosity--
- Yeah, right, that's true.

07:55.433 --> 07:56.900 align:left position:15% line:83% size:75%
- That kind of curiosity.
- That's true.

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Always kind of looking at

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- So, yeah, can balance it out.

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- Yeah, yeah.

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(bright upbeat music)