Interview with The Black Dalhia
Interview by Karla DiPuglia | Spring 2021
Image Descriptions by Patricia Kalidonis
Image Description | During an outdoor street art festival, artist The Black Dalhia sits on the ground next to a large piece of her artwork drawn on the pavement pathway. The chalk artwork, shown upside down, depicts a calm and introspective Black femme-presenting person in profile with their eyes closed and their face at rest. A bold, painterly line of wisteria purple surrounds the portrait.
The Black Dalhia (Dalhia Perryman) is an award winning, internationally shown and nationally sold, multidisciplinary visual, performing, literary and street painting artist utilizing her art as a catalyst for social change. Her proudest accomplishment to date has been as a national speaker training over 30,000 students across the country in anti violence, anti-suicide and anti bullying programs. A renaissance woman unwilling to be bound by social convention she wears various hats including: published intellectual, activist, FOH event manager, curator, fashion/jewelry designer, board member, and teaching artist. She was a member of a Guinness World Record attempting international street painting team as well as other wonderful experiences.
See more work by The Black Dalhia at BlackDalhiaArts.com and on Instagram.
Karla DiPuglia: How did you start making art and how did you get where you are right now?
The Black Dalhia: Who knows!!! Lol! Although that may be somewhat true, a lot of my growth process, like in any other field, was based on painstaking work over years, done one step at a time. I think the concept attributed to Malcom Gladwell stating that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in any field, makes a lot of sense. I am by no means an expert, but just in the field of street painting, it’s taken a great deal of time to see growth. I have done street painting for twenty years. I tell people all the time that it took me two years to learn how to get paint to stick to the ground and 10 years to get the proportions to look right and about three years to learn how to get the speed required to complete 16 – 24 hrs of work while the festival was still going on etc. There is no way around putting in the work to place yourself within reach of your goals and dreams. As for my basic interest in art, I loved art as a little girl especially Degas, as I loved ballet and Ernie Barnes whose work appeared on Good Times. This was important because his work was the first time I remembered seeing a black artist's work on TV. It began with a simple interest in art. That interest was fed by more seasoned artists who taught me techniques. Of course, there was a lot of bumping my head as well, a bunch of art shows and then finally a realization of what I really wanted to convey with my art, which took a lot of years to discover. As far as I’m concerned that comes through learning more about yourself over a period of time. In the beginning I just wanted to be a famous artist, or to do what I saw other artists excelling at. I’m an introvert who just happens to perform. It took me a while to realize that my voice, both verbally and artistically was important, could affect lives and needed to be shared if I wanted to affect those lives.
Karla: This is so true! It’s important to come to realize that everyone has different experiences, and that their way of translating and interpreting these experiences will always be different - which makes each voice totally unique and important as well. Talking about learning more about yourself, and realizing your voice… Can you pin some moments that were key in this discovery? What about during this time… what can you say about your voice during the pandemic?
Dalhia: I can’t say that I can pinpoint exact moments in my life, but I can pinpoint specific realizations that I had such as: I don’t need to minimize my voice to make others comfortable. This pertains to my art and writing as well. My only responsibility is in being respectful in telling my truth. This stemmed from the fact that people would often tell me on my own platforms, that I needed to keep my opinions to myself. During that time I found myself doing that more and more, to make people happy until I realized that the only thing I was doing by keeping silent was “making myself small, or less than and putting MYSELF ‘in my place’. Since that moment, I never allow anyone to minimize my gifts, talents or voice. As far as during the pandemic, my voice has unexpectedly become amplified, primarily because a lot of the issues that I was already approaching in my work, became much more important to others during the pandemic, and so I was approached with many more opportunities, to present, create, write etc. about issues of mental health, violence, equality, justice and humanity
Image Description: Artist The Black Dalhia crouches in front of a white garage door, wearing a black t-shirt, black face mask, and camo pants. She holds a floppy sunhat and can of soda in her hands. On the pavement in front of her are luminous, detailed portraits of George Floyd (left) and Breonna Taylor (right) drawn in chalk.
Karla: Where do you draw inspiration from typically? Do you have artists or activists you look towards?
Dalhia: I draw inspiration from everyday people I encounter and their experiences for the most part. Because most of what I do deals with humanity, locally and globally, I learn a lot about people (and myself in the process) and I think some of those insights inspire my art, activism, advocacy and writing. Artists in general that I’m drawn to include Leonardo DaVinci, Michelangelo, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Augusta Savage among others. In terms of activists, there are so many, people such as Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Ida B Wells, Gloria Steinem, Picasso, Sojourner Truth, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Fannie Lou Hamer, Mother Teresa, Tarana Burke. As a person whose work resides at the intersection of art and activism, some of the artist/activists who inspire me include Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Elizabeth Catlett, Betye Saar, Moneta Sleet Jr. , Carrie Mae Weems, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, John Lennon, Faith Ringgold, Dorothea Lange, Margaret Bourke-White, Diego Rivera, Jacob Lawrence, Keith Haring, Guerilla Girls, Ai Wei Wei, Kara Walker, Gordon Parks etc, . You may notice names on this list of people who you may say ‘wait a minute, those are not activists!’, but I believe there are servant leaders who are quiet activists in that they don’t make a lot of noise, but their moves and actions, literally can change the direction and course of history.
Karla: I completely agree. People don’t need to self tag themselves as activists for changing the direction and course of history. Especially today, it's even easier to speak your own voice because of social media platforms that in a way have democratized who can speak up. What are your thoughts on social media, activism and speaking one’s own voice?
Dalhia: I’m all for social media actually when it’s used for positive things and not for tearing people down or bullying. I think it is an extremely powerful and effective tool and I have seen positive social action that has been sustained on social media in various parts of the world.
Karla: You have mentioned before your concern for social isolation and how it ties to different forms of violence. Can you further discuss how you have translated this into your artwork?
Dalhia: Issues of violence, social isolation, suicide, domestic violence, etc. use to show up in my artwork alot early in my career. Now those issues are addressed primarily through my writing and advocacy/activism. I think I step away from it in my art because I deal with so much of it in my day to day work with survivors. My writing however is different because I can write about it and move on, whereas my art takes me a long time to do. I think it’s a safety mechanism. However, I’m thinking of revisiting this subject matter in my art briefly to talk about the fact that there are people trapped in isolation with their abusers during covid and youth are dealing with extreme stress, anxiety, and isolation adapting to their new schooling situations. However, I think I may need to think a bit more on how I want to do that.
Karla: Sometimes I find myself not precisely intending to touch on some ideas that I’m concerned about, reading about or talking about with my peers. But I find that these ideas have a way of coming into my work even if they are not literal. Usually I don’t see it myself, but when I share the piece with others, they make connections that most of the time make sense with my underlying thought process.
Image Description: While wearing pale pink over-the-ear headphone, and a teal shirt, Artist The Black Dalhia weaving strips of white, blue, teal, and yellow into a chain-link fence.
Karla: When quarantine started, we talked about themes of isolation and feeling trapped, do you feel that this will continue to be a theme in the work you will make this new year for the residency?
Dalhia: Yes this theme will definitely continue in my work. Ironically when we first started the Socially Distant Cohort, I really had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to say, in my art and my writing. I felt shell shocked. Speaking with and listening to members from their various places in the world has given me a sense of community and new ideas and helped me process thoughts about what exactly it is that we all have experienced especially in these last few months.
Karla: Do you feel being in quarantine has substantially changed your studio practice or has it highlighted what you were already doing?
Dalhia: I felt pretty focused before and felt I was doing ‘decent’ work, but aspects of quarantine, solitary work and having others undivided attention (because they are also often in isolation), has sent my work into hyper drive. By undivided attention, I mean, there were organizations/groups I was interested in, as well as opportunities that I probably couldn’t do before that now I have the time and availability for. In addition, due to organizations' intuitive creativity in working around the pandemic, so many new opportunities have opened up, or have opened their doors to a larger array of people. Another aspect of this is, that I’ve always felt, that we as a people waste much of our innate genius because we spend excessive amounts of time watching tv or chatting online. I often think: ‘Who could I be if I lived in a sense like a Michelangelo, or a Leonardo DaVinci, with minimal interruptions and/or an undivided focus?’ ‘Am I living at less than who I am meant to be?’ ‘Are people I am meant to help, not being helped because I am not bringing my ‘A’ game and 100% of my giftings or time?’ With those questions on the line and the time to address them, I can in theory at least, see what or who I can become with just a little more uninterrupted time to delve into creation.Karla: I want to keep exploring this “undivided attention” that you mentioned above. I personally struggle with this as well - finding balance on how I invest my time. Sometimes it feels like disconnecting from online platforms can be a double-edged weapon, going offline too much it's like you’ve lost so much of what’s “going on in the world” but also losing so much of the time that you could invest in interests / plans of your own. As an activist, how do you think you will achieve this balance? How will you bring your “A” game into a world that is so congested with information and full of interruptions - knowing that most of your work also feeds from news and information of what's going on in the world?
Dalhia: I have always selectively disconnected, because online platforms can at times be so polarizing and hurtful/hateful. I still disconnect now, (aside from the obvious effects of the pandemic). However, my reasoning for disconnecting is for a different purpose now. At this moment, I am consciously disconnecting for the specific purpose of working on and bettering my work and myself, researching and applying for projects I want to be a part of and taking classes for certifications. I want to show up in the world as my best self and as you said, bring my ‘A’ game, or at least the very best of myself to every project, I care to participate in. It's more intentional now, in that I consciously take time off for self -care, to work on myself and my projects and try to improve myself so that when things come up that I want to be a part of, I have done everything in my power to prepare myself and my gifts in advance.
Image Description: On an outdoor wall is a mural by The Black Dalhia of Augusta Savage and Ella Baker. The two women are depicted in black, white, and gray; they sing and smile, while silhouetted fists are held high in the background. In front of the mural is a small patch of grass and sand, and a short, dark green chain-link fence.
Karla: Your artistic practice is moved by your work as an activist, a work that inherently involves dialogue with people. Have you kept connection to others in your work while also social distancing? And if so, how?
Dalhia: So yes I definitely believe in social distancing, wearing masks etc. to protect us all and yes there is connection to others in my work. Ironically probably more than usual in some ways. This residency is a great example of that. I really wasn’t communicating with people much when the pandemic first occurred until the residency happened (Thanks to Patricia Kalidonis- our fearless leader!) In other facets, pretty much organically, everything I was doing that wasn’t already online began turning to online operations. I didn’t have to suggest it to organizations I work with. People have naturally adapted to the situation at hand. Virtual apps make it much easier to “feel” connected because it provides immediate feedback in real time. All of the things I am involved with: Public speaking, conferences, chalk art, classes in housing justice and breast cancer advocacy, work in diversity and inclusion, working to help prevent genocide and genital mutilation etc. pretty much all have a fully online presence at this point. While I do still have a few live events, most involve solitary work like murals and chalk art which is then recorded or adapted for online. The learning curve in turning towards virtual has been a steep one for me but an exciting journey!!️
Karla: What do you think you’ll take into your general practice after this is over?
Dalhia: Prior to Covid, I was very selective; only doing some things online/particularly things I was very comfortable with. I think my business could benefit from having more online presences. This has forced me to learn some of the practices I shied away from before. A benefit of this moment in history is that it is literally FORCING me to stretch my boundaries, and I’m here for it! Onward and Upward!
Image Description: Kneeling on the pavement street, in front of a beige building, Artist The Black Dalhia shows an old black and white photo to the viewer. Dalhia is wearing a black t-shirt and blue gloves. Next to her, on the pavement, is an in-progress chalk drawing of the woman in the photograph - Sculptor Edmonia Lewis.
