Located in the Exposition (Expo) Park in Los Angeles, The California African American Museum (CAAM) is a mystical place to go find exquisite art. The because I am that exhibit is a two-person art exhibition and was made by Adee Roberson and Azikiwe Mohammed. All the art in the exhibition is a multidisciplinary practice–meaning that both artists work with different mediums (like photography or videography) to paint a story of their upbringing and or values. 

Adee Roberson was born in West Palm Beach in Florida in 1981. She is an interdisciplinary artist whose work combines technicolor and vibrations in various artforms like film, melodic compositions, and paintings. Her artwork has been showcased in Portland Institute of Contemporary Arts, Contemporary Art Center New Orleans, and many other art exhibitions. 

When the Women Center for Creative Work interviewed Roberson, she stated, “I grew up having a connection to Jamaica through stories, photos, food, music and holiday time with extended family. This in-between space is something I would want to explore during my residency, as a part of a larger body of work that I have been creating around the profundity of black movement and the un/making of home.  Using sound, color, sculpture, and family archives, I will piece together my specific story of home and migration. The objects and visuals created would then become a part of my family legacy and archive.”

Azikiwe Mohammed is a graduate of Bard College and majored in fine arts and photography. In 2015, he received the Art Matters grant, and his work has been recognized in magazines and publications like Artforum and Forbes. Along with those impressive feats, his work has also been memorialized in solo exhibitions like the New York and Studio Museum in Harlem New York. 

The because I am that exhibition, according to caammuseaum.org, is, “Roberson’s and Mohammed’s intuitive practices figure Blackness as an abstraction, something free of fixed narratives and boundaries.” 

Along with that, the exhibition is meant to represent a conversation between the two artists. The exhibition’s name is borrowed from, according to caammuseaum.org, the writings of artist Senga Nengudi. 

As seen in the photos for the exhibition, it is noticeable how there is no name on each piece. The reason for this is because the artists wanted the viewers to interact with the piece by putting into their own interpretation. 

An example of this is shown with the image with a brown dot in the middle and different parts of a house in different corners. To sophomore Sophia Lin, this represents the, “unity/ solidarity in a household, like the circle in the middle.” 

Another piece of artwork in the exhibition that is up for great amounts of interpretation would be the image with bright, neon colors. According to sophomore Myka Oishi, she believes that it represents, “the business of the mind and how it looks when we are multitasking and not focusing on one specific thought.” 

As for the piece with the table, it is meant to represent Mohammed’s college life and how he never experienced a family dinner with everyone at the table until his friend invited him over for dinner. That night, it resonated with him and in a way, represented how a family “should” be in his eyes. 

Some parts of the exhibit are closed to the public due to a redesign until further notice. This exhibit is open until May 7, 2023, and is a wonderful opportunity to explore art that is so abstract that everyone will have their own view of the art. 

Photo Courtesy of Breeanna Pham