Damon Davis is a post-disciplinary artist based in St. Louis, Missouri. His work spans across a spectrum of creative mediums to tell stories exploring how identity is informed by power and mythology. He is well known for his body of work, Darker Gods, which explores Afro-surrealist manifestations of Black culture. Davis is a Firelight Media, Sundance Labs, TED, and Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow. He is the founder and creative director of St. Louis-based music label/ artist collective FarFetched and his work is featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Show Notes:
00:03:18 - Reflections on George Floyd and 2020 00:09:55 - Power dynamics in American society 00:14:35 - The soulful impact of art 00:17:40 - America’s amnesia & the complexities of blackness 00:20:49 - Value systems 00:29:56 - Damon’s intention with the mythology he created for “Darker Gods” 00:33:39 - Power, wisdom, and empathy 00:39:15 -The desensitization and fetishization of death 00:45:07 - Critical thinking 00:49:46 - Wrap up