0:00:08.309,0:00:12.509
Cranbrook Academy of Art is where I did my[br]graduate studies.

0:00:13.299,0:00:16.430
It was a bit shocking, I think, at the beginning,

0:00:16.430,0:00:19.550
because I was the only minority there.

0:00:19.919,0:00:21.759
This is in 1988.

0:00:22.840,0:00:25.780
I just considered myself another artist

0:00:25.780,0:00:28.320
out there amongst my peers.

0:00:28.970,0:00:31.449
And I think it was difficult because it was[br]the first time

0:00:31.449,0:00:35.849
that I was confronted with my identity as[br]a black male.

0:00:39.610,0:00:43.060
My mother told me when I was, like,[br]eight years old,

0:00:43.060,0:00:46.470
the complexity of what I would have to deal with.

0:00:46.470,0:00:51.230
So knowing made me think,[br]"I've got to build a thick skin."

0:00:51.230,0:00:55.450
"I've got to be able to operate in a world…"[br][LAUGHS]

0:00:55.450,0:00:58.170
"...that could work against me[br]as opposed to for me."

0:00:59.140,0:01:00.680
What do I do with that?

0:01:04.960,0:01:06.820
I have been racially profiled.

0:01:08.540,0:01:11.140
I'm walking home with my portfolio[br]from teaching.

0:01:11.140,0:01:15.850
I am pulled...surrounded by[br]undercover cops saying,

0:01:15.850,0:01:17.100
"Lie down on the floor"--

0:01:17.100,0:01:19.880
because the convenience store was robbed[br]down the street.

0:01:20.300,0:01:22.540
That has been my reality.

0:01:25.580,0:01:27.440
Get it together up here.

0:01:27.740,0:01:30.620
Psychologically, I have to really get it together.

0:01:30.880,0:01:33.280
And I just have to get quiet--

0:01:34.240,0:01:35.420
to put it in perspective

0:01:35.429,0:01:37.009
and to, sort of,

0:01:37.009,0:01:40.549
not sort of lash out into rage.

0:01:40.800,0:01:45.420
And if I do, lashing out for me is[br]creating this.

0:01:46.079,0:01:49.999
All of that becomes the impulse to create.

0:01:55.500,0:02:00.200
I don't ever see the "Soundsuits" as fun.

0:02:01.500,0:02:04.140
They really are coming from a very dark place.

0:02:07.780,0:02:12.820
The "Soundsuits" hide gender, race, class.

0:02:13.800,0:02:17.200
And they force you to look at the work[br]without judgment.

0:02:18.160,0:02:22.200
You know, we tend to want to categorize everything.

0:02:22.209,0:02:25.150
We tend to want to find its place.

0:02:27.520,0:02:32.160
How do we, sort of, be one on one with something[br]that is unfamiliar?