00:00When I think about my magic as a Black woman, I'm thinking about these artists before me who have
00:06brought in their spirituality and who have brought in these generational trends and generational
00:14memories into the work that they're making.
00:20My name is Jasmine Weber. I'm an artist and a writer. I currently am working here at an art
00:27publication called Hyperallergic. It's a place where I'm really given an opportunity to explore
00:33my interest in Black art and artists from different communities that don't typically get
00:40the spotlight in mainstream art criticism. Part of why I think the work that I do is important to me
00:46and to other people interested in Black art is because of the spotlight that Black art is getting
00:53right now in mainstream museum programming. I think it's really important for artists and writers
00:58of color to spotlight these artists coming out of the community so that they have a sustained support
01:04system and so that the world can really find out about this really incredible and important work.
01:10So some of the artists that are most important to me and that I look for in my work and that
01:15I'm interested in writing about are artists like Lorna Simpson, Michaline Thomas, Betty Saar,
01:21Black women who have really been paving a way for artists like me for a long time and who are
01:27just very recently getting the recognition that they deserve and more. So much of what we learn in
01:34art history classrooms is catering to ancient art, western art and then different pop artists like Andy
01:43Warhol with very little focus on the incredible artists of color who have been working for decades
01:50and for centuries. When I think about my magic as a Black woman, I'm thinking about these artists
01:57before me who have brought in their spirituality and who have brought in these generational trends and
02:04generational memories into the work that they're making. People like Lorna Simpson, people like Betty Saar,
02:11whose work is extremely magical, extremely rooted in the spiritual and in the the power that Black people
02:21hold. For me to be walking in their shoes and and only aspiring to do what they've been able to do in
02:29their life is inspirational for me. I'm Jasmine and that's what's behind my magic.
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