Homogeneity is a Myth
Michael B. Maine, www.michaelbmaine.com Š 2016 by Michael B. Maine All photography Š Michael B. Maine Hair/Makeup by Juel Bergholm
To my sister, Jessica. I’ve always loved you.
Homogeneity is a Myth was largely inspired by Cynthia Cockburn’s book The Space Between Us: Negotiating Gender and National Identity in Conflict. In this work, Cockburn explores how various groups of women have worked together across borders to see the humanity in each other during times of national conflict when the rhetoric of sameness is used to breed hostility.
In this venture I explore areas where identity-based conflict occurs daily. Dismissive language and
behavior robs us of the richness that exists in the individual by reducing the totality of their being into a limited, pre-existing story. Any group of people is just that—a group of people—each person with their own unique constructions and expressions of identities, hopes and dreams, perspectives, and lived experiences.
I’m not creating this work for any one particular audience. This is a visual manifestation of the
exploration of things that keep me up at night. Additionally, it is a celebration of the people who trust me and this project enough to allow themselves to be vulnerable and intimate in order to ignite curiosity in others. My goal with this exhibition is to temporarily suspend judgement and invite you to catch a glimpse inside each individual. Thank you for being here and being curious. Thank you for giving yourself and others the rare gift of attention.
Michael B. Maine
I’m an artist—Illustrator and Graphic Designer, and art educator (docent). My interests are not defined by preconceived notions of race and gender. I love history, art history and Opera and Early Music, for example. And I practice yoga. When I first moved to the West Coast (Bay Area) I felt free from the narrow spaces of the East Coast (and its history and conventions) and I had a real connection with the vast dramatic western light and landscape and sense of possibility. It sent my heart soaring.
I tend to relate particularly well to people twice my age. Most of my closest friends are over 60, and I feel a special bond with the Baby Boomer generation. I wish for the work I do as an artist to reach far and wide—across media, across generations, across cultures, without boundaries or specific labels about what my work is and what it is not.
The only situation I feel “me” it’s when I am with my son and people I feel are sincerely true with me. They bring so much happiness and peace to me. My son is my big fan of everything I am accomplishing; because of that I don’t know the word “failure.”
I am an ageless creative black man...As long as I am able I will defy being placed into a time or category. I am a Board Certified M.D. Physician. I was an Ob/Gyn and Emergency Room Physician who worked at a North Carolina Emergency Room Hospital where the White Husband of a woman refused to have his wife examined by a Black Man (Me)‌Unless she was dying or bleeding to death. Which was exactly the option. I did examine her and stopped the bleeding. Erase Racism one patient at a time. I feel ME when I see, feel, and touch ART. The HUMAN is able to always see and capture the unseeable and unthinkable in so many ways. I feel honored to live in a world with ART.
I’m a first generation immigrant and I could join the Daughters of the American Revolution. I expect people to take accountability and ownership for their words, actions, and expressions. I’m deeply loyal to the people I choose. I enjoy the periods of transition. I like the act of preparing food. I like the process of moving (especially to a different country). I like cleaning out my sock drawer.
The time when I feel the most myself is when I am shooting photos. I love working as a model, but the feeling I get from capturing images from my perspective that are true to how I see the world is exhilarating. Something people might not guess about me from my appearance is that I actually love colour! I always wear all black but I love being surrounded by flowers and colourful lights and things of this nature.
My internal world is a creative mix of analytic and emotional. I’m proud that, as a poet, I developed a trauma-informed therapeutic poetry program that serves homeless and incarcerated youth around the country. I love being around happy children.
Food brings people to the table. I show my roots and my feelings through cooking and language. That is how I want people to see me.
I am not as delicate and weak as I look physically. I am a change agent with resilience and determination. I feel most me whenever I can integrate arts/fashion with charity/philanthropy; I call this Fashion Integration (similar concept as the national movement of fullhealth integration).
Special Thanks: Juel Bergholm (Hair/Makeup) Victor Loo (Creative Consulting) People Featured (In Order of Appearance): Kimberly Deriana Celeste Ericsson Michael Cepress Kate Mensah Dr. Michael Greer Meera Bhardwaj Rant Richard Gold Radha Sadacharan Victor Loo Š 2016 Michael B. Maine All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Michael B. Maine.