Lower the Pitch of Your Suffering

Through large-scale, public, text-based installations such as the “How to Suffer Politely” series, as well as through publications and correlated public programming, Kameelah Janan Rasheed invokes pedagogical ideas of injustice, by presenting phrases that are absurdly insensitive as a way of addressing prejudiced thinking that is true to life. Both Lower the Pitch and Take it Like a Man function to great effect as public service announcements. Yet they also translate a commentary much weightier than traditional media advertising, bringing new attention to the nuances of language and emphasizing how many kinds of meaning can be conveyed with very few words. By impersonating an apathetic voice, these prints create a surprisingly playful confrontation with classism, among other "-isms," effectively deconstructing and dismissing mindsets grounded in the systematic shaming and silencing of specific hardships. Lower the Pitch and Take it Like a Man present callous remarks, as if they were spoken by an unfeeling person, as a way of amplifying the very real and often unseen harm that unjust sentiments can cause to an individual. In doing so, they validate the universality of physical, mental, and emotional pain.

Text written by Grace DeWitt,
Student Committee Selection 2016–2017

Kameelah Janan Rasheed

2016

Image courtesy of the artist

Archival inkjet print