CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – These may look just like crushed black barrels, however, they are so much more than that.
What you are looking at is Austin Peay State University’s Gallery Director, Michael Dickins’ latest artwork, “Nothing to See Here.”
According to Dickins, the barrels are representative of black bodies, and the white sidewalk that it is surrounded by represents white privilege to turn a blind eye to racial injustice.
“‘Nothing to See Here’ is my statement on the continued violence perpetrated against Black bodies and the privilege many of us have to ignore it,” Dickins said in a release by Brian Dunn.
This comes after Dickins’ piece in 2017,”#thoughtsandprayers,” a collage using rusty barrels with speakers inside of them. Students would read aloud the words, “thoughts and prayers,” to show how the voices echo from a medium that is usually used for garbage or temporary fires.
Dickins plans to move around the barrels to reveal the dead grass displayed underneath.
“You will see the visible scars of this violence, knowing that the scars will eventually be covered up and forgotten, and we’ll repeat the process that we’re constantly in,” he said in the release.
With 18 barrels moving every week for four weeks, those barrels will leave 72 patches of dead grass. Dickins’ prediction is that people will continue to stroll through, most not knowing what the black barrels even represent.
Dickins is an interdisciplinary artist and curator whose artistic practice includes visual and sound work. His work often focuses on social and political commentary.
Dickins earned a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and has exhibited his work throughout the world. You can see more of his work at www.michaeldickins.com.
For more about the triennial or any exhibit at Austin Peay, contact Dickins at dickinsm@apsu.edu.