ARTIST STATEMENT – The Undeniable Blackness Between Us

INTRODUCTION:
I was born in 1976 to a white mother and a black father. I have never met my biological father. The Undeniable Blackness Between Us is a body of work about my missing biological father.

RACIAL IDENTITY:
When I conceptualize racial identity, I think about how we see ourselves (self-identify) and how others perceive our identities. I self-identify as black in America for several reasons including racial pride; DNA results; American History; the “one-drop of blood rule;” and white racism. However, my perceived racial identity has always been fluid and dynamic because of the way I look. My racial identity is often a question for others. I will sometimes pass as white and gain entry to an unfiltered white world. This is often where I get to listen in on how some people really feel about People of Color.

EXPLORING:
I often feel out of place and excluded within majority white, and black, spaces because of the way my racial identity is perceived as a light-skinned bi-racial black man. What I have experienced is that I do not fit neatly into white culture or black culture but rather rest in the middle. Exploring this “in-between” space has been the major focus of my creative work.

60/40:
I participated in genetic testing a few years ago because I was curious about my background. I have lived as a light-skinned black man my whole life. What did my genes say about who I thought I was? My results came back as roughly 60% European and 40% Sub-Saharan African. It was through this genetic testing site that I found a half-sister on my father’s side. I reached out immediately.

ONE OF ELEVEN:
I found a sister through DNA testing. What I learned from her is that my biological father’s name is James Edward Peters and I am one of eleven kids. James is a black man serving time in an Alaskan prison. He was arrested in 2016 for pedophilia and several other charges related to his life decisions. After 47-years of wondering, I have finally found my biological father.

PROCESSING:
The subsequent paintings are the beginnings of finding out about these ten new siblings and my biological father. I hope to learn something about myself along this journey. I have much work to do and this is only the beginning.

 

ABOUT MICHAEL DIXON

Michael Dixon is an oil painter born in San Diego, California. He received his Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in painting and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University in painting and drawing. Dixon is currently a Full Professor of Art at Albion College. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, Joan Mitchell Foundation Emergency Grant, Puffin Foundation Grant, Blanchard Fellowship, and Phi Beta Kappa Scholar of the Year Award. Dixon has received numerous artist residencies including the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Joan Mitchell Center. His works can be found in the personal collections of artists Nick Cave and Beverly McIver, and in the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African Art. Dixon has been shown both nationally and internationally at museums, universities, art centers, alternative spaces, and galleries. His imagery explores the personal, societal, and aesthetic struggles of belonging to both “white” and “black” racial and cultural identities, yet simultaneously belonging fully to neither. The works of artists such as Robert Colescott, Beverly McIver, Michael Ray Charles, Glenn Ligon, and Kerry James Marshall have informed his work.