When the Nightmare Comes - I Believe

On Juneteenth, 2020, Long Gallery Harlem launched a new window installation project space designed to enable the public to view art installations directly and easily from the street or sidewalk. The space will feature programming by Project for Empty Space which features two-month installations by artists from its residency program and other local artists.

When the Nightmare Comes - I Believe is an activation to protect against and help confront racism with Nkisi Nkondi power figures as focal points in the immersive 3-D collage. Painted paper, painted glass, and mylar provide a multi-layered visual dream space. The viewer is anchored in reality, but enters this interior space, to observe how the mind defends itself against perceived threats and risks. As a visual metaphor, it really speaks to the experience of African-Americans relying on mental and emotional fortitude to defend against racism and messaging about illness and health.

Regarding the current installation, Gumby states “This piece for me represents that blurred line between dreams and nightmares. How do we keep the monster under the bed from consuming us and making us vanish? What keeps us protected and safe even when we are sleeping, even when we are not “woke.” Is there a higher force that surrounds us and keeps us safe even in the middle of life’s nightmares? It’s an interesting theme to explore and that is what I have done here.”

Harlem is an especially inspired public common in which African-American themes of spiritual redemption, social isolation, self-discovery, and cultural reinvention constantly collide with external forces. Long Gallery Harlem owner Lewis Paul Long notes that his vision for the gallery and this project was to “provide a safe space for the community to engage with world class artists who explore these themes even in the midst of a pandemic and global protests.”

Artist on View

Alteronce Gumby currently lives and works in New York. He received the Robert Reed Memorial Scholarship during his MFA at the Yale School of Art. He received the AAF/Seebacher Prize for Fine Arts as well as the Dumfries House Residency in 2015. In 2017, he was artist in residence and the Harriet Hale Woolley scholar at the Fondation des Etats-Unis in Paris, France.

Artist’s Statement

“I was asked to make a window installation for Long Gallery during the COVID-19 pandemic. A week into preparation, the deaths of Ahmaud Audrey, George Floyd, and Breanna Taylor among many others revealed yet again the demons that plague this country that is the brutality black people face everyday. The preliminary sketches for the installation were intended to conjure positive energy and hope through color. What started as an installation turned into an activation. Using sunlight to charge lapis lazuli, amethyst, quartz as well as power objects made by myself and colleague/artist Kenny Rivero, I offer an energetic force to protect and help us confront racism. .

For the context of the work, I’m viewing racism in the world as an evil spirit. A demon that has created monsters to carry out its sinister agenda. Magic must be fought with magic. The hero is summoned only when the adversary has revealed themself. For this reason, I have placed Nkisi Nkondi power figures in the installation and activated them to hunt down and destroy the evil spirit. I believe the process of making art is closely related to the act of performing magic and casting spells, and at this time we need magic - we need to come together and fight. I believe that there is a future for this world that exists without racism, but that future will only be present when the fight is won.”

-Alteronce Gumby, 2020