Art Really Is Activism
My final interview is with…
Boo McCaleb (he/him), a Black Trans Queer video artist and consultant who is using projection and light art to express his activism. Read on to learn how he got involved in this work and the powerful vision he holds for our collective future.
“When I saw my own face and how people interacted with what I made, I saw how powerful it is! I tell people just enough- my intentions with the art- and that’s just enough so they can interact with it. I don’t tell them what to do or believe about it. I love the open endedness this medium can offer. ”
Creative entrepreneurs are often asked to story ourselves to other people. We create our bios, resumes or CVs, descriptions of our work, elevator pitches, longer pitches, and much more, all trying to tell a cohesive and engaging story about our who, what, and why. Often, we update these stories multiple times, changing them to fit the needs of different audiences.
Tell me about yourself, and if possible, please tell me a story of yourself beyond the work you do.
“When I was very young in my career doing projection, I was reached out to by this mysterious woman on Facebook who had a personal mutual connection with one of my relatives. She asked if I do projection, etc. She found me by a Google search! I reached out to my relative for a cross-reference. She [was] a parent of a student who went to middle school in [a western Twin Cities suburb], and wanted to bring arts engagement to that school for mental health week since she was focused on that issue with her kid. She was excited about my work around mandalas, and mandala art. At the time I was first experimenting with my own visual iconography and with mandalas. That random synchronicity evolved into a huge project. She took all these mandalas K-5 students made in their classes and asked me to do a video projection on the building with all of their mandalas. Being sought out for this particular project with such synchronicity was cool, but I had a lot of fear.
Especially at that time, being able to express who I am and what I’m capable of was amazing. She brought me to the school and showed me the site, and I got to meet people working in the school. She was on the parent board, and she was involved in the dynamics going on in the school district around race. I was a baby artist just getting started and intimidated by all of this.
The run time for this project was during their homecoming football games. My vision right away was to do it outside from this rooftop. I didn’t have a budget, a team, equipment. I went to my friends and network of folks who were artists working in the industry, and figured it out. It was really stressful up until the last week, and really expensive- I thought I might not have enough to cover [the expenses] and make it work, but in the end we were able to make it work.
There were some technical difficulties, but this whole time I had this childlike joy about it all. I wore a particular outfit to match the art. I got to speak on the project on their local news channel. I got to come out from behind the computer and emerge from this anonymity and be seen, have my artist name be used. I got to see news footage of this and pictures and articles about the project in the local newspaper, and when I look at those I can see my face was just bursting with joy. I had so much fear but in the end I had so much joy to do it.I really had to take a leap of faith. I took a lot of agency in figuring out how to do it all, including handling a large budget, paying my people, and taking the time to do the work. Working with building admin people and making sure everyone was safe. I had to develop a comfort and be okay with being hella weird, doing hella weird projects and making it work.'“
“I’ve always analyzed it, I’ve always asked, why is it made that way, why did that choice get made?”
Another part of your story is what you do. I’ll bet you’re often asked that question so people can learn about the work you do through your business.
Please tell me about your work, including how long you’ve been doing it and where you offer it, and what the germinating seed of your idea was that caused you to start creating this work.
“My background is film. I was being trained formally in videography and making films, and I was also doing some painting in post-grad. My love for art comes from media and culture- that’s what I majored in. At first I was going to be a sociology poli sci major, but then I started thinking about it: what are actions we can take after we talk about people and systems? That led me to cultural studies. I have been raised to watch movies, listen to music and absorb culture with good influences (including my parents). I’ve always analyzed it, I’ve always asked, why is it made that way, why did that choice get made? Film turned out to be boring to me. I have always known that video is how I connect to the world, see and vision in the world. Watching video is rigid in the ways we consume, and I’m curious about how can we break the barriers in the way we’re engaging in the world through film and video.
I got involved in Project Night Light through Public Art St. Paul. I was telling everyone what if there was video but there was no screen- what would it look like if we watched video but it wasn’t a square, it was a circle etc, how would that affect the way we watched it?
I was inspired by other street art and throw up art, and that art really is activism changed me. That art changed me. I wanted to provoke people and make activist art. Someone showed me this kind of work. I realized this work exists, and I applied for the [Public Art St. Paul] program. I learned about this underground of visual jockeys [VJs]. Once I did the program I realized how much I love light, have an affinity for light, and how I grew up without much overhead light. How light impacts my mood, body and space. I started playing with projectors, playing with pixels, and I was moved by how [this form] wasn’t harmful to the environment, you can’t tear it down, erase it, that is so cool!
When I saw my own face and how people interacted with what I made, I saw how powerful it is! I tell people just enough- my intentions with the art- and that's just enough so they can interact with it. I don’t tell them what to do or believe about it. I love the open endedness this medium can offer.
I got in the program pre-pandemic in a cohort, and because of the disruption [of the pandemic] ended up teaching myself how to use the software in DJ and nightlife spaces. I was being a VJ, projecting in nightlife spaces and doing lights, learning about lighting too. The club was somewhere I was safe and had family. It was somewhere that provided me community, home, and gave me enough anonymity that I could focus on what I was trying to create without needing to dig into the housing insecurity and other things I was facing at that time. It allowed me to develop as an artist.”
It’s one thing to explain what you do, but a whole different thing for you to convey the why behind your work.
What are your values that keep driving you to create this work?
“Connection, for sure. Healing. Curiosity around culture and why the world is the way it is- why we do the things we do. I’m always teasing at the rules, structure and order of things. I consider myself like an architect where I create space, and I want to create space with collaborators: artists, healers, people who can come in and help people understand how to navigate the space, interact with the space. It’s all childlike wonder, joy and imagination.”
We are creative entrepreneurs in a hard, hard world. It takes dedication and commitment to care for ourselves, and a practice of vulnerability to allow others to care for us, all in the effort to find some kind of peace in our lives while we go on doing what we love.
What are your practices of vulnerability that allow you to be cared for by others? What are some examples of how you care for yourself, and how you receive care from other people?
“The first part [practices of vulnerability], that’s the goal. It’s one of my big growth edges right now. Meeting new people, being open to who might become a character in [my] life- that’s what’s gotten me this far. Asking others what they do while being open to ideas. Sharing ideas is a vulnerable act. Honestly, weirdly, labor feels like a vulnerable act; helping people do things is a big act of vulnerability these days.
Self care: I definitely am a big stretcher- I love stretching, floor time. Playing with toys, getting myself new toys. I listen to so many frequencies and watch so many pretty visualizers. I dabble in cozy gaming. I love dancing, big joy and MOVEMENT: pleasurable movement and pleasurable exercise. Hanging out with friends and laughing refills my cup. Building trust and ease in my friendships feels really good.
Receiving! Argh! I learn a lot from people, there are a lot of things I have challenges with on receiving care. I’m learning that giving to yourself and receiving pleasure is care. Slowing down. I love affirmations from people about being able to take a break. [Receiving] compliments on my work ethic and what I contribute to community is a huge act. A home cooked meal. Going on walks. When someone asks me how I’m doing and what’s going on in my life- that feels like a big type of care. Exclaiming, joy, encouragement, positive emotion and people sharing their own vulnerability feels like care to me.”
“I want to do work that speaks to the fullness of my humanity. ”
Another thing that we need to talk about are those fierce boundaries that we need to have in place in order to show up at our fullest and tap into our creativity.
What is an example of a boundary you’ve put in place, and how does that boundary allow you to create both work and hope in your life?
“Rest. I don’t do anything now that I know is going to put me out. If a workday is full from brim to brim with no rest, breaks, food, etc. then I am not going to do it. I used to really put my body at risk, I don’t do that anymore.
I want to do work that speaks to the fullness of my humanity. Who I work with, too; I don’t want unnecessary drama or conflict that isn’t productive. Some conflict is productive but the kind that’s not? I don’t do that anymore. There also needs to be a balancing of working with people who have a sense of awareness, and a level of accountability and responsibility to whatever they do. Being comfortable with being responsible for my actions and myself.
I’m very relationship oriented and picky, very boundaried about what those relationships look like. I advocate for my time, how it’s used. I love setting my own expectations. I don’t like being told what to do so much. The overall process has to be really fluid for me.
Also, working with people who have the same values as me keeps me in good water.”
“I want everyone to get grounded on the synchronicity and the mirroring of everything within itself. I’m always revealing that in my work, how powerful we all are. I want to create opportunities for people to remember our lost gifts and use them for joy and purpose.”
As a creative entrepreneur, I am working towards our collective future. I know that despite the immense number of challenges we are facing right now and in the coming years, we absolutely can join together to create a world where the earth, creatures, land, and people are resourced and thriving. I know my work fits into that future.
You’ve got a big vision for the world and that is part of why you do what you do, too.
Please tell me some stories about the world you envision and how your work relates to creating those changes.
“I want worlds where we take life less seriously- where there's more infrastructure that’s whole and less siloed. You know, bare feet and humility, I’ve been thinking about those things a lot. Regrounding these hierarchies we’ve created. Where people can weep and laugh in the same place. Cherishing water and life, and the earth. Less negative exhaust: negative talk, exhaust is how I think of it.
A lot more acceptance of self so that we can be kinder to each other, just comfortable with ourselves and each other, comfortable with- you know, a butterfly landing next to you and watching it.
Connection, for sure! It’s always connections for me. I want everyone to get grounded on the synchronicity and the mirroring of everything within itself. I’m always revealing that in my work, how powerful we all are. I want to create opportunities for people to remember our lost gifts and use them for joy and purpose.
I used to be really into ecosystems for art, and thinking about what inhabits that world. Now I’m really interested in familial structure. What are the ways we’re relating to each other now and creating tribe, family, lineage, and thinking about what it means? What does it mean to be connected? My partner is from south India, and I’ve been thinking about what it means to have this synastry, to have a lineage across time. I have been thinking a lot about connection and how it comes up - when things gravitate towards you that are different from where you were raised and what you’ve learned, what is that? What are we choosing to connect with and how do we choose to create with that?
My world is a lot of fun networks.”
On a tough day, what do you turn to for encouragement?
“Definitely my partner, for sure. They hear every little thing! Mostly about work. I’m good at self regulating, but on my work and the ideas - those impact me a lot and keep me up at night. I turn to them.”
“ I have felt like business is not Black people magic. I am trying to create magic.”
A lot of creative entrepreneurs started out early on, some even as early as childhood.
When did you start creating and testing out various business ideas? Please tell me the story of an early business idea you conceived of or tried, even if it’s very different from what you’re doing now.
“This idea of doing a business is very new to me. I’ve gotten successful in the last 2-3 years. I’m a person who wants to try something, build, and then everyone can do a piece and contribute and get a piece of abundance from [that effort]. I didn’t want to just get a job. Now I’m trying to figure out how to queer my business practice. I’m reading The Business Birthing Handbook; it’s a trimester approach to creating a business. I’m trying to figure out how to be trans, Black and have a business.
I had a really intense research opportunity given to me this year; it was in my medium for a big institution and my buttons were pushed a lot. I have felt like business is not Black people magic. I am trying to create magic.
I’ve always been an artist! Violin, choir, theater, anything I could sign up for. Business is new for me with the entrepreneur vibe. I’m figuring out how to be an artist that is successful as a business person. Finding the balance; not letting business clip my identity as an artist.”
Thank You, Boo!
Where to find Boo McCaleb:
Portfolio: https://boomccaleb.myportfolio.com/
Post-Script: Project Background
I conceived of the summer long-form interviews project in early 2024 as a way to join my world-building communications work with my enjoyment of interviewing people.
Through these interviews, I’m amplifying the work of six* creative entrepreneurs who I think are world building in beautiful ways. Please check out their websites, social media platforms and LinkedIn pages… follow them, share their work and engage with their content! Interviews are lightly edited for clarity.
The guiding values for this series include sharing the work, connecting with/building community, amplification of good world-building work done by creative entrepreneurs who are Queer, Trans, and/or Black, Indigenous, or people of color. These interviews are framed within queer & trans futurity & Black & Indigenous futurity.
This is a limited series- I’ll be publishing one interview a week for six* weeks.
*My fifth interview subject was unable to participate at the last minute, so this became a five-week interview series.
