A summer day in Harlem with Cece

This past Thursday I went to Harlem to check out Kehinde Wiley's exhibit called The World Stage: Africa, Lagos-Dakar at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
I posted something about it a couple of weeks ago on my blog and I decided to finally check it out. I def. wanted to take my daughter because as far as I know she's never been to a museum before and I think this would keep her interest; at least for a little while and I was right. She was so amazed by the colours and patterns that would just pop crazy. Surprisingly there were actually a couple of other things I saw there that I really liked.

There was an installation by Saya Woolfalk called No Place. I looked all over the web for pictures of it but none were available. I think that's a shame because it's great. I was so amazed by it. She is def. a good artist, I need to do more homework on her.

EYE NOTES – EXPANDING THE WALLS which have young photographers' work next to James VanDerZee's classic Harlem portraits also had great pieces by the new artist Christina Pardes and Nicole Rodriguez.

Afterward we stopped by the gift shop. After an hour of serious selecting we picked two good books.

I picked Graffiti Brasil because of the ill illustrations and of course I have to own something with Os Gemeos in it...lol.

Cece came to me with about 10 different books and I would tell her to keep looking and make sure that was the one she wanted. When I finally picked my book this was the book she had. I took a quick look and thought it was age appropriate and paid for it. It was The Storm by Barbara Barbieri McGrath. While on the train cece asked me to read something on one of the pages. As I read it I started to realize the book was personal stories by children of Hurricane Katrina. Love it!

So everybody needs to go today.

Now as for my thoughts throughout the day..... I couldn't help but compare Harlem to Newark. Both are big historic cities of America with a deep and rich history for the black community. But for some reason I could feel something in the air when I came off of the train. I looked around and knew that this city was a big deal. I can see people looking to find a little bit of Harlem's history. There is a deep love for this city from the residents, tourist and artist that feel it through their bones. But in Newark I don't get that feeling. I think between the riots, drugs and crooked politicians we lost it. I think little by little we are getting something but it's missing that history. From the culture to the commerce Harlem is steps ahead and away from Newark. We need to start to really preserve and start finding people that can bring back the history of Newark. There's no future without a past.

Speaking of commerce you know I had to stop by Atmos. I guess it's not only the Jersey boutiques that really don't have anything for me. I saw a pair of McQueens that were sick but didn't have it in my size.