Neo Clown Country Thesis Paper

Gabrielle Burnett’s thesis is focused on how black women’s emotions are twisted by greater society, like how people twisted the words of civil rights leaders. This series of artwork titled “Neo Clown Country,” describes the mental health issues of black women, and the artist that have from these stemmed perceptions. The series begins with "The Ancestors" which are a set of matriarchal clowns based on playing cards, who inspire the people to follow their tenants, over time those tenants were twisted which leads to the story of “The Fool” following in her ancestors' footsteps. The story of the fool tackles these topics of mental health with the choices someone who is in the black community commonly makes when attempting to solve problems on their own. The continuation of this thesis will end with a series of works having “Edliyah the Fool" taking care of her mental health and destroying stereotypes about the black feminine body.

The metaphor of mental health and perceptions are seen through clown and editorial makeup. The artist hopes that people will wear makeup to show how they feel day to day and how others perceive them. She tries to create the makeup in a simplistic enough way that anyone familiar with clown or editorial makeup could easily replicate it. The artwork of the ancestors is informed by posters of artwork throughout the time like David C, Snapp Wyatt Circus Freakshow side act posters. The artist is very inspired by animated media which leads to portraits following the history of animation. The artwork of official portraits of the ancestors are based on her approach to the future of animation and pictorial portraits with nods to hairstyles used in Netflix’s Bridgerton and Atlanta Loc hairstyle Competitions.

The ancestors wear the card faces of playing cards and that tie them to a specific idea. The oldest ancestor is Chimwemwe, the joyful clown of clubs who wanted to inspire the people she saved to be joyful in creation and free to be whatever entertainer that they want to be. Her daughter the second ancestor Salamatu, the clown of spades, holds the tenant of it is okay to not be okay to fuel negative emotions into inspired action. Her daughter the third ancestor Hadizatu/Kadejia, clown of hearts, holds the tenant of to love oneself and their neighbors to make sure to care for the community. Her daughter the last ancestor is Oluwakanyinsola, clown of diamonds, who holds the tenant of to be grateful for what you have and to bless others with the good fortune bestowed upon you.

The story of “The Ancestors” is displayed in four series of works. The first series being the portraits done of them as advertisements using animation and poster imagery to make a timeline. Then the artist created a series of official portraits showing the tradition of the clown egg to establish copyright to a design and cementing the ancestor's royal status. The artist then applies the egg to the 3D realm in the series of sculptural 3D printed “Royal Eggs.” And lastly the “My Culture” series showing the how the clown faces are used in the modern world. The clown Egg tradition started in 1946 by chemist Stan Bult who was painting faces of popular circus clowns. This tradition continues at Clowns’ Gallery (AKA Clowns’ Church) in Trinity Church East End London. This copyright is not one that is upheld by legal standard but as a self-regulating copywrite. If you ever noticed why “The Joker” might have iterations that are like the last. It is because these eggs are used to ensure copycats do not steal the designs of other famous clowns.

In the official portraits, the ancestors wear dresses that are complimentary to their clown outfits, they are leaning or standing next to the egg, and they have their dreadlocked hair done up in the style of their card face evoking a Bridgerton style of portraiture. The artist also includes a hand-me-down fabric that is featured in all clown portraits as a remembrance of the founding queen of Neo Clown Country. Going forward from the thesis, the artis wants to add a small comic series of the story of the founding of Neo Clown Country and how the ancestors got into their power. This comic will be the connector between “The Ancestors” and “Edilyah the Fool,” series of works.

To set the scene of how the ancestors clown faces are used in present day the artist has made a small series of “My Culture” to show the modernized look of the clowns. The four artworks combine negative stereotypes of black women seen through clothing. jewelry, and hairstyles that would be considered “too Black” by the community and from outsiders. The series is to show that there is no one way to be a black woman in America and there is no “right” way to portray being black. In short if you are born in a black body, you are black, no outside force or influence can take what you were born with. Attributing blackness to objects or performance causes feelings of inadequacy to being black in America.

The artist hopes that this work will cause people to think about their biases against black women and the black community. She is aware of the irony of people seeing clowns as a stereotype of black features and believes it furthers her point of biased perceptions. She wants viewers to leave with a challenged perspective about the ways black women navigate the world through hiding emotions and depressing their spirits to not fall into negative stereotypes. The makeup is like one wearing a heart on their sleeve which is why it is important for "The Fool" to figure out what her tenants to the world will be and how she can show that on her face. Does she have to be limited to having one idea for the rest of her life or is she allowed to evolve and change when presented with innovative ideas? The artist wants black viewers to leave knowing they are not limited to a singular ideology or culture, that we are unlimited beings with mass amounts of creativity.

Outside of the original thesis the artist imposes her clown faces onto celebrities like Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar to easier identify the message that each clown face represents. Being a clown or alternative does not take away from one's blackness. And likewise wearing a 613 30-inch bussdown wig that washes you out during the winter months does not mean you do not want to be black anymore. Acting with one's emotions does not limit them to that emotion. These celebrities are ever evolving and do not box themselves into corners and so should the rest of the black community. While it might not be best to live in one's anger, sadness, or other negative emotions, one does have to feel them and experiment with how they are used to taking care of their mental health. Prioritize your dreams and wants without letting anyone black or white stop you from achieving your goals.

The artist can be found adding a performance aspect to displaying her artworks. She appears at the opening of the exhibit as the joyful clown of clubs. She walks around the exhibition handing out her business cards and dancing to her own music allowing people to wonder why. She also appears in the clown makeup of “Edliyah the Fool” during her artist talks. This is to prove that anyone who has skills in makeup could also wear the faces of these clowns in public.

Gabrielle Burnett is a mixed media artist in which she chooses her material based on the feeling or emotion she wants the artwork to give. She primarily works in gouache and digital art applications looking for bold sticking colors. Her color pallets focus on contrasting the black skin with pastel and neon colors. For "The Ancestors" she is inspired and informed by David C. Snapp Wyatt, Rubber Hose animation, Golden Age Disney animation, and mid-age anime styles. She is also inspired and informed by artists like Amy Sherald, Trenton Doyle Handcock, Beverly McIver, and Kerry James Marshall. Gabrielle describes her art style as being semi-realistic as she follows cartoonist styling of bodies while still being realistic to real bodies. With her paintings she focuses on adding texture, whether that is relying on the texture of the paper to shine though or adding texture in “messy” strokes.

It can be seen in the artwork that music is important to the process of creating for Gabrielle. She created a playlist of 2025 inspirative music featuring artists like Doechii, GloRilla, Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, and Rico Nasty. These artists connect to her thesis for being black musicians who push the envelope of Rap and Hip-Hop. These artists have also recently had their blackness challenged in the eyes of society. Asking if these artists are “preforming blackness,” or “being authentically black.” Gabrielle and the music artist agree that there is no performing blackness if you are black. Letting others determine your blackness will only bring pain and depression instead of the joy and love that we need right now.

Overall, the Installation of Neo Clown City is a celebration of blackness, Afro-futurism, ATLiens. The artist combines lived experiences from the mecca of Atlanta, Texas and Mississippi reimagining black culture if slavery was rooted in the circus. The performance of being black relates to the artists’ upbringing in Predominantly White Schools and only access to blackness being through the Baptist church and Spelman College. This led her to believe that she had to perform in a certain way to be accepted as black by both sides without leaning too far into “being ghetto,” this only hurt and depressed the artist as she lived through cycles of reclaiming her blackness. It would not be until the Black Lives Matter Protests of 2020 that she solidified the idea of no singular way to be black and proclaimed her Pro-Black Lifestyle out loud. This leads to the artist's mission statement to inspire the next generation of black creatives to be limitless and not limited.

Bibliography

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