In Conversation: Tavarus Blackmon with Gabriela Yoque

In Conversation: Conversation:

Tavarus Blackmon Gabriela Yoque

Tavarus I’m here with Gabriela. Can you introduce yourself and describe your work and artwork?

Gabriela Hi, so my name is Gabriela Yoque. I am a multimedia project-based artist. I’m based in Oakland and originally from San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. So, my artwork, I always like describing it as project-based because I do jump around. I jump around themes, and I can’t really stick with the same medium for very long. I usually start with screen printing as a starting point. And then, whatever theme I’m working on, after playing around with it as a screen print, it usually jumps off into different mediums. That being said, a lot of the work I do is usually personal. It’s based on personal narratives and naturally ends up referencing or re-analyzing social constructs or social justice issues. Tavarus And what’s it been like over the last year, working at an art institution during the pandemic?

Gabriela It’s been rough, mostly because I feel like I let go of my practice for personal reasons. But I’m working in an institution focusing on other people and making sure that they feel supported, and trying to move along this art space for other people. That being said, I also work in a very small, nonprofit organization, where we set the rules and tone for how this organization moves about the pandemic. We’ve gotten really positive feedback on when we reopened. People were really happy that like, oh, “At least you’re open, and I feel safe coming in here because of what you set up.” It’s been difficult, but at the same time it’s been really great, mostly when people were giving us that positive feedback of, “Okay, great, this has been worth it.”

Tavarus So the theme of the exhibition is A Joy Unexpected, which is all about something positive that comes out of a challenging or difficult time. In line with that kind of methodology of care or healing, what methods of care have you initiated during this challenging time of COVID-19?

Gabriela I don’t even know. The past year for me, it’s been a lot of discovering how to take care of myself emotionally. So, I feel like I’ve tried different things, but a lot of it has been cooking for myself, nourishing my body. That has been a huge help and especially because I have such an emotional connection to food. And then going outdoors, which in the beginning of the pandemic, I was avoiding. I was avoiding going anywhere, but then realizing that I take care of myself a lot when

being in nature. Even just neighborhood walks— which I didn’t really start doing until I got my dog and he sort of forced me out. But now it’s become such a habit and such a form of care for myself. Like after work, now I go to the park and walk my dog. Even though it’s for him, it’s really for me as a way to let go of anything from the day and be able to come home leaving stuff at work.

Tavarus Can you discuss creating a safe and responsive space for BIPOC artists in an institution? I know that you’ve been doing a lot of work creating an environment in the institutional space that is welcoming and accessible for BIPOC artists. What’s that whole process been like during this time?

Gabriela My automatic answer is exhausting. The institution I work in is an old institution—it’s been around for almost 50 years. It has a history, and there are people who’ve been there for a very long time. One of the things that sort of started this shift of more intentionally creating a safe space for BIPOC artists, was just calling out the institution and calling out the culture that has existed and that no one had really addressed. So that initial call out was extremely difficult. Mostly because people were shocked— like, “I don’t believe that this is happening. I don’t believe that people don’t feel safe.” Those types of conversations. So the beginning was very difficult— getting people on board like: “How do we more intentionally address this?” But after a few months of talking it out—“What does that mean? How do we actually address this?”—it was a bit easier once people understood what the next steps were. Then everyone was on board, and we were able to create an anti-racist committee within our staff to actually dedicate time. That’s the thing working for a nonprofit—everyone’s stretched very thin and taking on multiple roles. So, it was super important for us to make this time. Like, “Okay, we’re going to meet twice a month, and we’re going to specifically talk about this, about creating a safe space for artists.” And just in general, asking how do we adjust the organizational culture and policies to really set up people for the future? Yeah, that being said, it’s still been really difficult, because again, in nonprofits, everyone is stretched thin. And even though everyone’s really excited to do this work, finding that time and energy to continue with serious momentum has been difficult.

One of my co-workers always reminds us that we’re not going to get it right, right away. We are also learning. Let’s just start the conversation. Let’s just start trying this out. For a while, I was really frustrated at the pace we were going because, myself as a Latina, I felt really rushed and an urgency to make this space and what I wanted it to be like right away. I had to remind myself, I have to slow down for everyone else here who is learning. But also, I’m going to burn out if I try to keep going at the speed I want to go at. So now, almost a year later, I feel really happy working with my coworkers on this and knowing that things are slowly happening.

Staff

Michelle Mansour Renée Rhodes Michael Gabrielle Phi Tran Carissa Diaz ChiChai Mateo Rachel Welles

Executive Director Art Programs Manager Education Programs Manager Marketing & Design Manager Installations & Site Manager Development & Programs Assistant Operations Assistant

Catalog Production

Phi Tran Graham Holoch

Graphic Design Exhibition Documentation

About Root Division

Root Division is a visual arts non-profit in San Francisco that connects creativity and community through a dynamic ecosystem of arts education, exhibitions, and studios. Root Division’s mission is to empower artists, foster community service, inspire youth, and enrich the Bay Area through engagement in the visual arts. The organization is a launching pad for artists, a stepping-stone for educators and students, and a bridge for the general public to become involved in the arts.

1131 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 415.863.7668 rootdivision.org

Supporters

Root Division is supported in part by a plethora of individual donors and by grants from National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Arts Commission: Community Investments, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Fleishhacker Foundation, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Violet World Foundation, and Bill Graham Memorial Fund.