[hip-hop music playing]
♪ One, two, one, two, three ♪
♪ Where Brooklyn at? Where Brooklyn at? ♪
["Where the Heart Is" playing]
♪ Maybe other streets are wider ♪
♪ Than these narrow streets I know ♪
♪ Still you'll find here ♪
♪ Ties that bind here ♪
♪ Where the heart is ♪
♪ Maybe other lights are brighter ♪
♪ Than these streetlights row by row ♪
♪ All I know is, this is home it's, where the heart is ♪
♪ Maybe other grass is greener ♪
♪ And what if it is? ♪
♪ I belong here, right or wrong here's ♪
♪ Where the heart is ♪
♪ Maybe other grass is greener ♪
♪ And what if it is? ♪
♪ We'll get by here, laugh and cry here ♪
♪ Where the heart is ♪
♪ We'll thrive here, it's alive here's ♪
♪ Where the heart is ♪
[cheering and applauding]
[Nola] Good evening, everybody!
[crowd] Good evening!
Good evening, everybody. My name is Nola Darling. [cheering]
I wanna thank you all for being here tonight
to celebrate the opening of my very first solo show:
I Am Your Mirror.
[cheering and applauding]
Hundo P, I didn't know if tonight was gonna happen.
It was a vision I had, but I didn't know how I was gonna pull it off.
But with everything that I've been working through and, more importantly,
- everything the world is going through... - [crowd] Right.
...I knew I had to at least try.
And the work has just been pouring out of me,
so who cares if the rent is too damn high?
[crowd laughing]
[Winny] I don't give a fuck if the rent's too high.
The art is here, you are here,
and I wanna thank you for inspiring me and encouraging me
in ways that I cannot count and quantify.
- I hope you see yourselves reflected. - [crowd] Yeah.
I wanna give a special shout-out to my homie from around the way
who helped me put this all the way together...
my rock who don't stop...
[Nola] Divine!
[cheering and applauding]
Thank you, my queen.
You hooked me up.
Ahora, bienvenidos todos a Nuestra Sala.
Everybody, welcome to our living room!
[crowd] Yes. [cheering]
So please make yourselves at home.
Absorb, marinate, please tell me what you're experiencing,
and...
that's all I got! Enjoy the free vino!
[cheering and applauding]
[man] That was good.
[indistinct chatter]
[soft music playing over stereo]
[Clorinda] It's just a matter of time, I know.
Manifesting. Manifesting. Manifesting.
Let's go see the blue one.
Oh. Shemekka, we'll catch you later.
All right, I'll see you around here. We're not leaving yet.
Come on, tell me what you think.
It's all so stunning, ladybug.
- It's like some medieval Christian art. - Mm-hmm.
It looks like you're the parent raising us.
To me, it's like...
you're real and I'm invented.
So you did all this with that commercial blood money.
Nola, let me tell you something.
You ain't no worm.
You are a tree.
Thank you, Daddy.
Okay, I'm gonna go...
do the thing. [chuckles]
I love y'all.
- Love you too. - Mm-hmm.
Tie a ribbon to our stories, count our graves,
and etch our names in history.
Never forget we account for our lives...
...the liberation we promised ourselves for centuries...
The new Nola is so political.
Just gotta jump... right into the crit, right?
No "congratulations," no "hey"?
That's a given.
I'm feeling this, all of this.
Thank you.
But you didn't see the politics before?
Ain't you a black woman artist too? It's always there.
Sure, but you're making statements now.
You did that with your street art, but here it's new.
You captured Puerto Rico beautifully
and you have so many different types of people here, this is...
I had the best time.
- Gosh. - Yeah.
Ah. I love it.
What up, sis?
What up?
- Okay, all right. Nice to see you. - How are you? Nice to see you too.
I gotta go, but don't go anywhere after the show 'cause I gotta talk to you, okay?
- All right. - Great job, babe.
Beautiful work. Beautiful work.
Why do y'all always gotta talk? What y'all got to talk about now?
Don't know. She say she wanna talk about some shit.
[laughing out loud]
I cannot believe you flew back in for this. Thank you.
Yeah, man. You know I had to see what you left Puerto Rico for.
- Yeah. - And here you go, repping for La Isla.
Trying.
How you been?
I don't know about you, yo, but, for real, I feel kinda blessed.
You know, I look at you,
you know, I think we both doing what we came here to do.
I'm in the studio now and you got this show...
The ancestors, they're really helping us manifest our dreams.
This is a dream.
[exhales loudly]
[chuckles]
All right.
Let's get this for the Gram.
- Hold up. - What?
You gotta get the pic in the...
- [Nola scoffs] Okay. All right. - ...back.
[camera shutter clicks]
That's lit. Let me see that.
You gonna tag me on the Gram? You know I can amplify.
Of course.
Just keeping it wavy.
Yeah, you know I been thinking about you.
All right? I've been thinking about that night in Santurce when we was,
you know, looking up into the heaven's stars.
Straight stargazing. That was special.
- Yeah. - Especial.
- Hey, what's up? - Oh, hi.
Oh.
This is...
Remind me your name again?
You know what my name is.
Yeah, but just tell me with the quick quickness.
You know, I like it when you say it.
Yennifer Clemente.
Yeah, right, I was just joking.
- Yennifer Clemente, like Roberto. - Nice.
Yennifer, Nola, Nola, Yennifer.
Nice to meet you, Yennifer.
- Hm... So this is your show? - Mm-hmm.
How much you get paid for doing something like this?
Oh, no, I don't... I have to pay for it myself.
It's definitely a labor of love, trust.
Well, I hope y'all enjoy.
- Bye. - Good luck actually looking at the art.
Why you coming for me, though?
Yo, Yennifer, you know, look, hey...
Like, you know, we don't have to be like arm in arm and shit.
People gonna be thinking we like married or what not.
We just met on the D train yesterday and shit, you know? I'm just...
We just vibing.
Yeah, just good vibes, baby, good vibes. Good vibes.
Mommy got her sippy cup.
- Yo, I gotta make my night out count. - [laughing]
Mm-hmm.
I see you're here with Win. What's up?
Yeah, Smutty is persistent.
You know. We're just, I don't know, figuring it out.
Well, you're open now, that's what matters.
Yeah. [laughing]
And why do you have a picture of her up there
- after she already stomped your heart out? - [Nola scoffs]
Ruthless. Fucking ruthless.
[Winny] Mekka, Mekka, where you been? I been looking for you.
Excuse me, Nola. Excuse me, Nola.
Baby, they got pictures of the trip over there, Puerto Rico.
Let's go... You tipsy?
- No. - I like it like that, baby.
- No! Help! - Come on, baby. I like it like that.
Take care of her, okay?
Work this out.
- I'll be at the Puerto Rico pictures. - Oh.
- Hi. - Hi.
Hi.
Nola, this show feels like a real shift for you. An organic one.
How do you feel about yourself up here as the Yemayá?
- [Opal sighs] - The goddess of the ocean.
Creative force who will never leave or abandon you.
That's me, all right.
Always patient, never trying to control the situation.
And you know me. Love being under somebody's control, it's my favorite.
Sorry, better with plants.
You're my Yasa goddess.
Opal is human.
Fuck, Nola is too.
I think too many humans on this planet.
That's what I say.
- Let me get a photo of you. - What?
[Opal] It's beautiful.
- [Nola laughs] - Perfect.
- Congrats. - Thank you.
- See you soon. Bye. - Okay.
Nola!
I am so proud of you!
Elizabeth Catlett would be so happy you got that grant.
- And I know you happy too. - Oh, I'm so happy!
You know what, don't worry about the rent.
- What? - Don't worry about the rent.
I'm so happy for you!
- Thank you, Miss Ella. - Nola.
- I love you. - Oh.
[both giggle]
The elusive Don Swan.
- Yeah, that's me. - [Nola laughs]
- Didn't I tell you she was fantastic? - Oh, she's amazing. Amazing, yeah.
I'm sorry I missed the block party, but I think I made up for it, right?
- By being here? - Yeah.
I'd say so. Priorities. That wasn't my shit.
[all laugh]
- I did like that too though. - Yeah.
Well, I'm happy to be here, I'll tell you that.
- I'm so proud of you. - Thank you.
- Come here. - Thanks for coming.
Mm...
I got you.
Oh, you two are too beautiful, this is too much.
Child, stop.
- You changed her whole life. - Child, stop.
She like a whole new woman.
- Oh, what you talking about? - [Nola laughs]
Listen up! Listen up!
Let it be known that the folks on this line right here
are selected especially by Nola to get the first peek
at what's behind the maroon curtain.
Miss Ella?
[speaking Spanish]
[indistinct chatter]
I feel you have to see the piece in person
to understand the textures and the energy that go into the materials
and dimensions of the work.
You can't get that online.
What's interesting to me is how Nola is expressing her naked anger.
That strange fruit piece.
[scoffs] Hm...
It's beautiful and ugly, all at the same time.
You know, some days, I wanna hug Nola.
I wanna shake her some days.
And some days I wanna be just like her.
[Dutch] Hey, Preeta, you made it.
Dutch, how are you doing?
Dutch, you invited her? Hi.
Nice to meet you.
Oh... Actually, we've met before in Martha's Vineyard.
- Nation Time, my portfolio showing? - Did we?
- Yeah. Yes. - I don't recall.
Well, okay. Well, I'm glad you could make it to this. Awesome.
I squeezed it in. Four more openings tonight. Take care.
Well, there's a lot that's embedded here.
I would love the chance to sit down with you
and talk about what you see tonight.
I look forward to sitting down with you.
Dutch, I need to get you in my office.
Please, put me on your schedule next week?
She gives good advice.
Well, Clorinda can't do what Preeta can do for you, Nola.
You're ready for a worldwide audience. I mean, stay in Brooklyn, that suits you,
but you are Art Basel, you are Venice Biennale,
you are Guggenheim Bilbao, even Manhattan museums.
You can cross the East River. Trust.
I'm serious. Watch.
She sends really amazing chocolates if she likes you.
[Greer] Déjà vu.
I didn't know you still be throwing your dry ass french toast ass at Nola.
She ain't got no maple syrup for you, man.
She got that organic maple syrup too.
The half-nigga know.
Apparently, you two got younger since the Thanksgiving dinner.
The only regression I deal with is on my taxes.
Let it be known that you nor... Sir Throwback here
were even contenders with me on the scene.
I took Nola to Puerto Rico. She got mad love for me.
All the ladies got mad love for me.
Bong bong.
Y'all are just talking but you only say nothing.
They outta wine, let's go.
Mad love.
Noted.
Hm. Damn, you fine.
- Thank you. - [Reed] Greer, baby.
However, my beauty seems to be contagious.
Sorry, honey, they're a pair.
Greer and Reed. Greed.
Yo, you stupid.
- Hi. - Hi.
Yo, I been following you... 450k, I'm one of them.
Yo, but when you gonna put Greer on?
Yo, I never see you post no pictures of the BF on the Gram.
Aw, shucks!
What is this? All skate?
I'm legit deeply moved, I appreciate all the support.
Well, clearly this is the place to be.
- I love your piece behind the curtain. - Thank you.
It's twisted on so many levels
and it's weird for me to say that I like it like that, but I do.
Well, I really appreciate that, especially coming from you.
I want to see it.
You wanna see...
- Yennifer, where you going? - [Yennifer] Mars!
- [Yennifer] Come on! - Good to see y'all.
- You ain't right. - [Nola chuckles]
[rock music playing over stereo]
Hey.
What a triumphant night.
Are there any pieces of me in here?
Oh, it's all about you, Jamie. Right?
Isn't it always?
I like what's behind your curtain.
Of course you do.
Enjoy.
[Nola laughing]
Damn!
Thanks, Divine.
You feel that heat, that chocolate heat? That's Nola Darling.
Flaming fondue. And I lit the match, I fired her up.
I anointed, initiated, inspired, instigated her transmogrification
into one unapologetically African, Nubian, black sister queen.
Jakub is always here to inspire you.
I am not down with Nola's art piece. I...
Even though I admire my dearest friend Nola and her daring,
I just can't get behind the salacious, exploitative,
reinscribing of trauma here.
That's what she's doing.
African Americans have already enough pain to deal with in real life,
so why is she repeating it?
If you're going to be an ally,
be an informed one.
Yo, my man.
[clears throat]
What you doing?
Just standing here chilling.
Hey... is there a problem?
Nah, not on my end.
Okay, then keep it moving, you're blocking the line.
[Nola] Um...
Can I help you?
You could take this piece down, and if you won't,
I'm just gonna stand right here and make sure people can't see it.
Wow, artist to artist, can you not block my work?
Yo, artist to artist, this art is fully irresponsible, Nola.
Yo, my man, why you disrespecting my queen, man?
- I'm asking you nicely. - Yo, my Dominican brother...
Dominica has nothing to do with anything...
Yo, this is my show, dude. I need you to move.
Come on, I'm asking you nicely, man. What you pulling out your phone for?
Oh, this is what we're doing? You think you're the only one with a platform? Okay.
- All right, let's go. - What's that gonna do?
Re.Mark.Able here thinks that just because he doesn't like my art,
he can police it. That's censorship, y'all.
I exist.
He's afraid he doesn't, so he out here on some patriarchal shit.
And I'm not here for the bullshit.
She's totally loco and she don't even know it.
He's the one who needs to stop.
If this so-called "woke" black woman
don't take this triggering, retraumatizing piece off the wall,
please shut it down.
We do not need this, black people. We've seen enough.
This is bringing us down.
Nola Darling is retraumatizing stuff
that we don't need to see as a black community. Shut it down.
Well, that feels like a good place to stop for today.
Thank you, everyone, for tuning in.
Until next week, with love and light, Clo.
- I'm so proud of you. - [Clorinda chuckles]
We need more critics in the space
who actually look like the work they're critiquing.
- Literally. - Mm-hmm.
Yeah, girl.
It was wild.
Like, I fully anticipated the black blowback,
but when this motherfucker stood in front of my piece in protest,
I was like, "Get the fuck outta here."
People were really feeling the show, though.
- Mm-hmm. - That piece in particular,
was his theatrics unexpected?
Yes and no.
I mean, ultimately, I'm glad he did what he did.
Homie got a lot of followers, so it just exposed more people to my work.
His little stunt backfired.
And you didn't take it as a valid critique? Maybe?
Absolutely not. We all follow him on social media, you know?
You know he's just one of these Insta-activists.
His critique didn't come from some like deep personal experience,
it was just a generic regurgitation of what he thought other people would think.
Yeah, I mean, you are stepping into a long-standing debate, though,
of whether to show black suffering.
Know who had something to say about it?
- Who? - Rachel.
- Yeah, girl, that face. - Wait... [scoffs]
Why?
I'm sorry, but no, like respectfully, but why?
Umm... Was she offended by the violence?
[sighs] This is America.
By the violence, by the fact that I'm a woman acknowledging it.
If you're a black queer woman, you're just walking around with a target on your back.
The piece did feel personal.
It was. It's how I see myself living in America.
- When... Well, with black suffering, - Mm-hmm.
I can't help but think how white folks don't deserve to see it
and how black folks just don't wanna see it again.
So...
Nola, who was it for?
For anyone who sees themselves in my work, you know,
recognizes their stories.
For everyone who's working to...
acknowledge racism, sexism, homophobia, and the balance of it,
with breaking free of it, you know?
Acknowledging who and where we are with what we envisioned we could be.
- We should have recorded that shit. - [snaps fingers]
[hearty laughter]
Can you handle this? I mean, can you handle this?
Black woman pulling no punches.
This is sort of reminding me of Kara Walker
when she first hit the scene.
Nola's work is way different, but they are kinfolk when it comes to brutal honesty.
[Tom Jobim's "Wave" playing]
[Nola]...and let them, you know, fall where they may.
I, like, tore into this wall...
Oh, would you ladies excuse me for a moment, please?
- No problem. - I snatch this from you.
- Thank you. - So this is what all the fuss is about.
What are you doing here? I thought you were in London.
I thought I'd pop in, give you some foofoo.
[scoffs] You got jokes.
This is insane what you're doing here.
It's... incredible juxtaposition.
Thank you.
And you've been getting some sweet press, yeah?
I have.
You don't mind that I've been given a little shine?
A lot of it's been for this piece behind the maroon curtain.
I can't wait for you to see it.
I'm going to a collector's in East Hampton.
I want you to come with me for the weekend.
As your arm candy?
You like the way we look together.
Perhaps, but I'm nobody's trophy.
Never that.
We don't have to leave the bedroom.
That's true.
♪ When your eyes met mine It was eternity ♪
♪ By now we know The wave is on its way... ♪
But, if we need sustenance,
we could do some work.
And there would be a lot of work for you to do.
[Divine] Nola, mi amor,
special delivery.
[Nola] Mm...
Thank you.
Peace God.
My name is Divine.
Come on, he knows. [chuckles]
Olu.
Oh, I know. I know.
I appreciate your art, brother.
[chuckles] Thank you.
- This way? - Yes.
Enjoy.
I will.
- [Divine] Okay. [chuckles] - [Nola] Stop.
[Divine] No, listen, I'm sorry.
Okay, I didn't mean to rain down on your party.
Never that. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of him.
Oh.
It's chocolates from Preeta.
And a major musician wants to buy one of my pieces.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Say that again?
- Chocolates. - I got that part.
- Preeta. - I got that part too.
Major musician wants to buy one of my pieces.
- One, two, three. - [Nola laughs]
- Bam! - Ah!
[both laugh]
Say word.
- Yes, it's happening. - Congratulat... Of course it's happening.
- The blessings are pouring down upon us. - Ah.
Yes. We've just gotta continue to create and spread love.
Yeah.
[Olu] Bloody hell!
Tried to warn a brother.
Nola Darling's piece is part of a long tradition of transgression in black art.
She's using herself as a mirror to reflect back to America, its atrocities,
not just against black people but against black women in particular.
Oh, it's good to see you.
Things have been crazy. All these people and their opinions.
Ah. Shit, son, you riding high, huh?
But you don't seem happy for me.
You can't just do things without consequences, Nola.
What are you talking about?
You don't get a free pass just 'cause you're making art.
You still have a responsibility.
Okay, I'm sorry, I'm confused, I'm trying to catch up.
Are you saying the piece behind the curtain is wrong?
I think that your delivery is wrong.
Why?
Because of some shit people said on black Twitter?
I'm just saying, you didn't have anything to say when you first saw it.
Don't reduce my opinions to Twitter
and don't talk to me like I'm just some hood chick.
- I didn't say that. - But you think that.
We've always had different perspectives, Mekka.
I mean, you liked that earWave campaign. I thought that shit was trash.
Yeah, you right. But we were both on the same trip to Puerto Rico
and this is what you got from it?
No, man.
The Nola that I know is a healer.
You heal with your art.
Shit, you healed me.
Your work empowers and uplifts black people,
but this shit right here, nah, man, this shit grinds us down.
Not everything can be empowering and uplifting, Mekka.
Aren't I allowed to evolve?
Besides, I got a lot from Puerto Rico.
Did you even check out the portraits?
I'm just... But overall, things ain't all black girl magic, okay?
My heart breaks every day at the state of the world.
So then why would you take this pain and sexualize it? What?
- Oh, for shock value. - [scoffs]
Yeah, you don't see a problem with that?
What you want me to do? You want me to take it down?
I own black pain just as much as you do and I choose to express mine.
Man, Nola, let's be honest, no shade,
but you ain't never really experienced no real pain in your life, man.
But this is a whack way of speaking up for those who have.
Wow, do you even know me?
Just because I'm not loud about my pain
doesn't mean I haven't been through some shit, okay?
I'm just not trying to sign up for the poverty Olympics.
Where's this even coming from?
This holier-than-thou thing, is it because you took down Lady May?
Oh, so now you're gonna insult me for fighting to make sure
that nobody else gets killed? Okay.
I'm just saying you're not the black art Gestapo, Shemekka.
Okay? I'm allowed to take my body and reclaim it as I choose.
Yes, but when you do it like this and use it against us...
Fuck are they?
This is my expression, not yours, not theirs,
and I just need you to be my friend right now.
Oh, okay, so today we gonna define "friend"
as somebody who shouldn't tell you how they really feel?
Come on, man! Nola, that's whack!
That's really whack,
'cause there a lot of people saying "Ah-ah-ah" to your face
but then "whoo-whoo-whoo" behind your back.
Whatever the case,
I'm gonna support you in public like you're right,
but behind closed doors, I'm telling you,
you're wrong.
Individuation.
It's the process required for self-actualizing.
I haven't spoken to Nola in a while.
I think it's because she's in the thick of it.
Individuating.
Whether you're talking about friends or family,
people you admire...
or despise...
you have to individuate your wants from theirs
in order to honor your true self.
It can be a thrilling...
and painful process.
But who wants to see or be
a black orchid
that never fully opens?
[instrumental music playing]
It might hurt.
But you know me.
Gotta be fearless. [scoffs]
Or at least try.
With love,
Nola Darling.