Rap-Art - idea

Three whole months, eh? That's LONG. Ok for the whole of August I was in Moscow and had two-minute-a-day internet access - a good time to read haha - but for the rest of it I do want to apologise, although who cares about my sorry's when I have been giving them right left and centre whenever I don't post. I am disgusted about my long silence, I feel like sh-t about my laziness, I pay the price with proper depression spells when I don't do this, so let's just move on. To what's up.

I guess I start with introducing to you Xavier (have I mentioned Asylum33? Ray is a part of it. And so is Xavier). He has got in touch with me on Twitter and wanted to meet and share ideas. We did. Except he didn't come to discuss A People's Art, he was like: "Hey, I've these friends who rap, we could find some pictures of them and put it all in a gallery". It was vague at the time, with nothing really tying the idea together, and then I slept on it, then slept some more, until 'some pictures' became 'pictures that would portray the life of today's UK rapper'. The idea was to start showing the public that 'gangsta rap' is out (I hope) and giving way to new, more peaceful sounds and life styles. I love the idea that rappers of today come from different backgrounds and are united through the genre. This is a wonderful, inclusive concept. Rappers ride bikes!! :D

So that was that: we brainstormed on the name and called it 'Rap-Art'.

Sh-tload to do though (Xavier suggested we do it in the next 2-3 weeks and I fell off the chair - that would leave no time for my paranoia): find the space, find the sound system, find the pictures, print them, frame them, etc. Xavier was invaluable. But at the same time, it was tricky. I lose sleep, literally, when sh-t doesn't get done, like, yesterday. I'm on one side of the phone: 'Where are the pictures?' 'Where is the flyer?' 'Where are the pictures?' 'Where is the flyer?' - Xavier on the other side of the phone: 'Chill, Marina'. It's just that I can't chill, you know? Not least because the gallery was asking about the pictures and the flyers, but it's also that I was creating this event where I had no idea how it was going to go or how it would end up, what I did know is that I wanted to do the possible best - to make it as good as I physically could. I wanted to make it f-cking great, and for people to have the best time.

So, like, #pressure.

I contacted the Hackney Council about places (they replied with an extensive list of all the spaces to rent for events), I google-searched and emailed every little gallery in Hackney and out of whoever replied, I chose three of the cheaper ones and went to have a look. A-Side B-Side was a perfect space - it was small and it had white walls - I needed nothing else. Its founder Catherine so so helpful and so involved with the project - it was an absolute pleasure. She had her partner help us on the day, she invited a few friends, she answered my dumb questions.

Xavier took care of finding the artists and the sound system - I am very grateful to him, and to everyone who said yes and who just helped out.

As for the prints, at first I imagined them big, A1 or A2, and that was expensive. I don't even recall now how much as I think I've repressed the memory. THANK GOD a few of them had too small of a resolution and couldn't be made big. So ok, last minute decision, already at the printers, was to have them small, and by small I mean tiny… A5-tiny. (You can imagine the sweat on my forehead where from A1 I have to downsize my own vision of the entire exhibition to A5 in a matter of seconds - not a good look for me, felt like I was collapsing together with the vision.)

By then I had already gone to IKEA and got the massive frames (not clever, next time - prints first, frames second) - my extremely pregnant best friend Katie drove me there and back. I had to ask my extremely pregnant best friend Katie to take me on this joyous trip again to exchange them. She agreed (I am lucky!) The cheapest frames, in smaller sizes - black, white and red for extra sexiness.

Came home, framed the prints, laid them out on the floor and you know what, they really looked good (Look! Look!)

I was happy. I was happy enough to admit that I was happy, which is rare. Although the print size  didn't fit my initial plan I thought if I like them, a few others are bound to like them, and at the end of the day it's all that mattered (this was a surprise epiphany).

Then came Xavier, looked and said we ain't got enough prints. Well f-ck, for two weeks I'd been telling him we need more prints but because of the clear instructions to 'chill out' I stopped. Anyway, story cut short, I was back at the printers on the day of the exhibition (by that point the do-it-last-minute situation had stopped being so scary, the real fear by then was revolving around the potential turn-out of guests) doing what needed to be done. (The photographs, by the way, belonged to the musicians and their archives, and a few were done by Ray especially for the event.)

I will write about the evening in a separate post though, this is getting super long. One more thing here: finding alcohol sponsorship was a futile idea that of course I still pursued. Local Hackney breweries are a joke. By that point though, as much as I wanted the audiences to have as amazing time as possible, I decided that Rap-Art would have to happen even without the drinks. As soon as I thought this, my ex mother-in-law brought me two cases of wine for the event. (Which is when I finally cried.)

Out of my own pocket, however, came some money - for gallery hire, sound system, prints and frames. And by my own pocket I mean my parents' pocket. It was quite a bit of money and now I owe it.

Next up: the Rap-Art Night.