Kambui Olujimi

There’s a popular notion that riots are violent spontaneous overflows of emotion, usually in response to an incident. They are not. These actions are the result of persistent and untenable conditions. They are not a swansong of reason but rather a transference of matter, like breath into snow­–what Dr. King calls “the voice of the unheard.” I’ve been focused on, what I call, the silent-state riot, the surreal and absurd space of inequity that generates these proverbial shifts in matter. I’m interested in these “outbursts” as a telltale, not just of the socio-economic conditions they belie, but of an invisible psychological terrain that oppressed peoples must negotiate daily. I investigate connections between the vernacular of this psychological terrain, of this silent-state riot and the aspiration of the common riot. 

The Sublimation Project is an interdisciplinary project that looks to shift the dialog around riots. I am currently looking for support of the project. My recent works on paper and writings are a spontaneous response to our current American condition. They are a way to explore some of the ideas of Sublimation with works of immediate scale. These works are only a couple days old and I’m still learning them but I do know, I wanted to make something that would not allow us to forget this moment as we move forward in the years to come.