UCLA Journal of Radiation Oncology APRIL 2023 - Flipbook - Page 9
UCLA RADIATION ONCOLOGY JOURNAL
micro and macro moments.” Toni Morrison’s
The Bluest Eyes is an element of “Free” that is
easy to miss: the child to the left is watching
rather than playing and holds Morrison’s
book, is a nuanced way of exhibiting what
it is like as a child to feel apologetic for the
color of your skin, to endure being called
names or being made to feel ugly.... These
were elements of play that as she grew older,
she became aware were not always play,
but also not always intentionally hurtful.
In thinking about intention rather than the
words, Katasi explores unconscious bias,
shifting the experience of “normal” by
exhibiting Black people simply living their
lives. “Free” is a love letter to childhood, a
fantasy of Black children at carefree play in
an epically-magnificent background, Denise
Williams’ singing “I’ve got to be free, free,
free, oh, and I just got to be me,” and the
feathery dandelion seeds wisping Katasi’s
wishes onto the mountain breeze.
Since all of Katasi’s titles are the titles of the
songs she hears accompanying the works,
“Blue in Green,” echoes with the Miles
Davis ballad of the same name. A ballad is
traditionally used to tell a story, and here, it is
the plaintiveness of piano and saxophone, the
saudade for what once was. For Katasi, “the
song choice was mainly about my connection
to Jazz as the genre that cuts to our deepest
emotions. For me, it's a song that brings up
memories that I now hold closer than ever—
joy with family/chosen family and being
happy together. It also feels sad...and maybe
that's longing for the memory and wanting it
to be more than a memory sometimes...to go
back and feel the innocence/naïvety.”
I took advantage of a stay in Los Angeles
in early-December to meet up with Katasi
at a mutual friend’s art exhibition. She is
disarming in how all around her feel her
warmth and openness, in how she can shift
easily from discussing race and gender on
an objective, intellectual level to playfully
imparting an anecdote. It is difficult to
believe that Katasi has ever had difficulty
fitting into any group of people, regardless of
race, gender, or socio-economic status. And
yet, that viewpoint does Katasi a disservice;
her warmth is a product of rising above all
unconscious bias, even her own, in hopes of
allowing others something akin to a utopian
entrée into her emotional and physical space.
By the time I met with her via Zoom for this
article, I had looked for, and made copious
notes on, the nuances within her work.
In my favorite piece of Katasi’s, “Free,” she
taps into her innocence, into feeling good
within “another historically exclusionary
space.” While she feels a strong connection
to nature, Katasi shared that “camping and
being outdoorsy was never really something
that was accessible or culturally relatable for
myself and other people of color, so we often
avoided it.” Most of Katasi’s friends while
growing up were white, and understanding
Blackness as a child “happened in various
In 2018, London artist Kay Rufai created the
S.M.I.L.E-ing Boys Project. He took dozens
of Black teen boys deemed as at-risk or
otherwise disengaged by their teachers and
had them spend time taking photographs,
writing poetry, and discussing what gave
them happiness. The resulting exhibitions in
public spaces including Battersea Arts Centre
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Star Tattoo Copyright Marilyn Minter
What is eerie about “Free,” and about all of
Katasi’s work, is how familiar it looks. Her
work has been compared to Slim Aarons’
photography, and for good reason. Katasi’s
collages are, at a glance, the same as how he
termed his photographs: “attractive people
doing attractive things in attractive places.”
The difference is, Slim Aarons’ subjects were
White celebrities and socialites...and the
photographs were not created to promote
social commentary, but rather what should
be aspired to. Katasi’s work, on the other
hand, leans into the familiarity glossy images
and ample smiles elicits, but takes her work
a step further than even analog collage artist
Brandon Brewer.