Obsidian | Kamari Carter, Marcus Grant & Will Johnson
Biography
Kamari Carter (b. 1992) is a producer, performer, sound designer, and installation artist primarily working with sound and found objects. Carter’s practice circumvents materiality and familiarity through a variety of recording and amplification techniques to investigate notions such as space, systems of identity, oppression, control, and surveillance. Driven by the probative nature of perception and the concept of conversation and social science, he seeks to expand narrative structures through sonic stillness. Carter’s work has been exhibited at such venues as Automata Arts, MoMA, Mana Contemporary, Flux Factory, Fridman Gallery, Lenfest Center for the Arts, WaveHill and has been featured in a range of major publications including ArtNet, Precog Magazine, LevelGround and WhiteWall. Carter holds a BFA in Music Technology from California Institute of the Arts and an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University.
Marcus Grant is a professional drummer, percussionist, musicologist, educator, and band leader originally from West Chester, Pennsylvania currently living in Miami, Florida. After receiving his Bachelor of Music degree from the Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance, he went on to receive a Master of Music degree at the University of Miami Frost School of Music in 2017 and a second Master’s degree in musicology in 2021. Marcus is currently a PhD student and Chancellor Tisch Fellow at Brown University studying ethnomusicology.
Will Johnson is an audio artist from the Bronx, New York. His work centers on blackness – the material and immaterial conditions of space that shape sound into movement and historical record. He holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from NYU-Gallatin. He is the recipient of the Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Sound Art/Composition (2018) and the McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Musicians (2019). His commercial work includes licensed sound for Acura, Beats Electronics, HBO and collaborative contributions to 2016 grammy-winning best electronic album Skin. His live performances have been commissioned by Lincoln Center, the Kitchen and MASS MoCA.
Artist’s Statement
This project seeks to disrupt the definition of “the criminal” and redefine the term through sonic manipulation. This clip is a portion of the first movement (#Revolution) of a three-part suite entitled #InsertNameHere which grapples with notions of criminality, sound, race, police brutality, and Black trauma. “#Me” takes musical inspiration from Max Roach’s “Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace” from the 1960 recording of We Insist: The Freedom Now Suite featuring vocalist Abbey Lincoln and more modern medium of audio samples from cell phone videos of police violence against Black people to create a space of somber remembrance of those who had been viewed as criminal.
Biography
Kamari Carter (b. 1992) is a producer, performer, sound designer, and installation artist primarily working with sound and found objects. Carter’s practice circumvents materiality and familiarity through a variety of recording and amplification techniques to investigate notions such as space, systems of identity, oppression, control, and surveillance. Driven by the probative nature of perception and the concept of conversation and social science, he seeks to expand narrative structures through sonic stillness. Carter’s work has been exhibited at such venues as Automata Arts, MoMA, Mana Contemporary, Flux Factory, Fridman Gallery, Lenfest Center for the Arts, WaveHill and has been featured in a range of major publications including ArtNet, Precog Magazine, LevelGround and WhiteWall. Carter holds a BFA in Music Technology from California Institute of the Arts and an MFA in Sound Art from Columbia University.
Marcus Grant is a professional drummer, percussionist, musicologist, educator, and band leader originally from West Chester, Pennsylvania currently living in Miami, Florida. After receiving his Bachelor of Music degree from the Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance, he went on to receive a Master of Music degree at the University of Miami Frost School of Music in 2017 and a second Master’s degree in musicology in 2021. Marcus is currently a PhD student and Chancellor Tisch Fellow at Brown University studying ethnomusicology.
Will Johnson is an audio artist from the Bronx, New York. His work centers on blackness – the material and immaterial conditions of space that shape sound into movement and historical record. He holds a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from NYU-Gallatin. He is the recipient of the Jerome Foundation Fellowship for Sound Art/Composition (2018) and the McKnight Foundation Fellowship for Musicians (2019). His commercial work includes licensed sound for Acura, Beats Electronics, HBO and collaborative contributions to 2016 grammy-winning best electronic album Skin. His live performances have been commissioned by Lincoln Center, the Kitchen and MASS MoCA.
Artist Statement
This project seeks to disrupt the definition of “the criminal” and redefine the term through sonic manipulation. This clip is a portion of the first movement (#Revolution) of a three-part suite entitled #InsertNameHere which grapples with notions of criminality, sound, race, police brutality, and Black trauma. “#Me” takes musical inspiration from Max Roach’s “Triptych: Prayer/Protest/Peace” from the 1960 recording of We Insist: The Freedom Now Suite featuring vocalist Abbey Lincoln and more modern medium of audio samples from cell phone videos of police violence against Black people to create a space of somber remembrance of those who had been viewed as criminal.