OPEN 24 HOURS: Commemorative Still Life

Motivated by the excessive amount of littering and garbage in my neighborhood, I created a project titled OPEN 24 HOURS. The title refers to the highly visible sectors of East Garfield Park - a historically African American neighborhood in Chicago - rarely, if ever, cleaned.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Chicago neighborhoods are among the areas with the highest binge drinking rates. This neighborhood’s boulevard is also a food desert, with one liquor store framed by two landmarks: Garfield Park Conservatory and the Center for Green Technology. 

During the mornings, while walking my dogs around the block, I encounter from 2 to10 (or more) empty bottles of alcohol on a daily basis.  Something that stands out to me is the amount of empty cognac bottles, mostly Hennessy and Rémy Martin). This fact - and living in a predominantly African American neighborhood - led me to research the connection between African Americans and cognac which has its genesis in the 1930’s. During both world wars, cognac was introduced to black soldiers stationed in France. France celebrated black musicians and artists like Josephine Baker, who filled Paris clubs. African Americans elected to drink cognac since then. I find this to be one of the most poetic, tragic and also grandiose ways of exercising democracy. Hip-hop and Rap lyrics referencing cognac have reinforced the popularity of cognac among African Americans since the late 90’s. 

 

“Cognac’s relationship with African-American consumers started later, when black soldiers stationed in southwest France were introduced to it during both world wars. The connection between cognac producers and black consumers was likely bolstered by the arrival of black artists and musicians like Josephine Baker, who filled Paris clubs with jazz and blues during the interwar years, according to Dr. Emory Tolbert, a history professor at Howard University. France appreciated these distinctive art forms before the U.S. did, continuing a French tradition dating back to Alexis de Tocqueville of understanding aspects of American culture better than Americans did. For African-Americans, the elegant cognac of a country that celebrated their culture instead of marginalizing it must have tasted sweet.” “During the 1990s, cognac sales were slow, and the industry was battling an image populated by fusty geriatrics. Then references to cognac began surfacing in rap lyrics, a phenomenon that peaked in 2001 with Busta Rhymes and P. Diddy’s hit “Pass the Courvoisier,” causing sales of the brand to jump 30 percent. During the next five years, other rappers teamed up with brands, and increased overall sales of cognac in the U.S. by a similar percentage, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States.”

    

           -  Reid Mitenbuler, author of Bourbon empire: The Past and Future of America’s Whiskey, 

 

Edra Soto (b. Puerto Rico) is a Chicago-based artist, educator, curator, and co-director of the artist-run outdoor project space THE FRANKLIN. She obtained her Master of Fine Arts degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2000, as well as attending Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Beta-Local in Puerto Rico and the Robert Rauschenberg Residency Program in Captiva, Florida though a 3Arts Foundation Fellowship.

 

Her work was featured at the 4th Poly/Graphic Triennial of San Juan and the Caribbean in Puerto Rico, Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space and the Hunter East Harlem Gallery, in New York. She co-curated the exhibition Present Standard at the Chicago Cultural Center with overwhelmingly positive reviews from the Chicago Tribune, Newcity, PBS The Art Assignment and Artforum. She was recently featured in Newcity’s annual Art 50 issue Chicago’s Artists’ Artists and at VAM Studio 2017 Influencers. Soto was awarded the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship and the DCASE for Individual Artists from the City of Chicago.

 

To learn more about Edra’s work, visit her web site, www.edrasoto.com