Michèle Pearson Clarke: Beyond Words

The first time I encountered Michèle Pearson Clarke’s video installation Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome) was at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in 2019, as part of the exhibition Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art. Coming face to face with Black Canadians as they look straight into the camera and “suck teeth” – an everyday gesture that I had heard but not truly understood – was a highly emotional experience. The tension is palpable and uncomfortable, achieved through the repetition of this sound accompanied by dismissive looks, raised hands and clenched fists. Although not privy to the incidents that caused the pain, frustration and disgust, I could sense the emotion aimed at an invisible aggressor. Affected by the destabilizing experience of this work, I contacted the artist to learn more about her way of working. What followed was a series of conversations that would profoundly change my understanding of her practice and make me reflect deeply on encounters, vulnerability and pain.

Clarke is a Trinidad-born artist, writer and educator, based in Toronto. She works in photography, film, video and installation. Informed by her background in psychology and social work, in her art practice she uses archival, performative and process-oriented strategies to explore the personal and political possibilities of emotions such as vulnerability, longing and loss. As the artist explains, by using these strategies, her work situates grief as a site of possibility for social engagement and political connection.

Michèle Pearson Clarke, Simone,  still from Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome), 2018, 3 channel high-definition video installation, 9:47 minutes. Purchased 2020 with the generous support of the RBC Emerging Artists Acquisition Fund. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: Courtesy of the artist

In Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome), Clarke investigates the limits of language, particularly when expressing anger, pain or annoyance while faced with discrimination, ignorance and racism. “Referred to variously as kiss teeth, chups, setups, and stchoops, to suck teeth is to produce a sound by sucking in air through the teeth, while pressing the tongue against the upper or lower teeth, with the lips pursed or slightly flattened,” says Clarke. “West African in origin, this verbal gesture is used to signify a wide range of negative affects, including irritation, disapproval, disgust, disrespect, anger and frustration. Given that representations of African-American Blackness dominate and define mainstream Canadian understandings of the Black experience, my aim here is to use this gesture to examine the tensions experienced by many Black people in Canada, due to this erasure and the resultant invisibility of our complex and nuanced experiences of Blackness. Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome) is thus a response to the frustrations of living within this denial, and an expression of the anger and pain that many Black people often experience living in Canada, where we are always assumed to be better off, if not completely free of racism.”

Michèle Pearson Clarke, installation view of Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome), 2018, 3 channel high-definition video installation, 9:47 minutes. Purchased 2020 with the generous support of the RBC Emerging Artists Acquisition Fund. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Michèle Pearson Clarke Photo: NGC

In this video installation, Clarke elevates this common gesture by projecting larger-than-life images of her subjects on three separate screens. In its making, she put out a call for participants and then documented the seventeen individuals who responded. During individual private sessions, she recorded the subjects “sucking teeth,” an opportunity to express emotions “that we too often have to hold back for fear of the consequences that inevitably follow.” She also asked them to dress in a way that made them feel powerful and good in their own skin.

The video starts with a reveal of the setup: the artist calls out “scene 3, take 5, marker” and then the participants walk towards their mark on the bright, white set where the microphone hangs from a boom overhead. The camera zooms in and adjusts to their position as they hold colour-balancing charts. Then, they begin. Each participant performs “sucking teeth”, while breathing loudly, raising hands, making fists, crossing arms, placing arms on hips, swaying bodies , rolling eyes or casting them down.

Michèle Pearson Clarke, Danielle, still from Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome),  2018, 3 channel high-definition video installation, 9:47 minutes. Purchased 2020 with the generous support of the RBC Emerging Artists Acquisition Fund. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Michèle Pearson Clarke Photo: Courtesy of the artist

All seem visibly uncomfortable and upset. The image of the same participant is repeated across the three screens, at times different in scale and with timing delays, to best capture the full embodiment of their expressions. At other times, three participants are composed across three screens, their actions mirroring or enhancing one another. Often, they stare at the camera – and the viewer – as if facing their aggressor. Clarke carefully edited and choreographed the multiple hours of footage, paying special attention to the sound, in the creation of the final piece. The work demonstrates how, in this instance, non-verbal communication exceeds the limits of language.

In Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome), Clarke also continues her explorations of rhythm and repetition of sound. For this installation, she has created a veritable soundscape, permeating the gallery space to unsettling effect. The rhythm of the soundtrack is echoed in the construction and editing of the scenes. The video’s final minutes are silent, as we see people paired together in what can be interpreted as moments of composure, comfort and solidarity. The pain they expressed has transformed into resilience.

Michèle Pearson Clarke, installation view of Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome), 2018, 3 channel high-definition video installation, 9:47 minutes. Purchased 2020 with the generous support of the RBC Emerging Artists Acquisition Fund. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Michèle Pearson Clarke Photo: NGC

The work’s title references Shade Compositions (2005 –present), a series of live performances and videos by African-American artist Rashaad Newsome. According to Clarke, in these works Newsome “explores issues of Black authorship, appropriation, identity and belonging by conducting choirs of women (and sometimes, gay men) of colour who snap their fingers, smack their lips, roll their eyes and cock their heads, creating expressive linguistic symphonies out of the non-verbal gestures and vocalizations of African-American women.” In her video, Clarke responds to the inquiry of Newsome’s series and extends it, all the while focusing her lens on a very specific oral gesture that has not changed or evolved from its African and Caribbean origins. In this way she celebrates how “sucking teeth” has survived and continues to connect people to their ancestry. Through the connection to Newsome, she also deliberately puts her work in dialogue with African-American art history in an effort to further interrogate the marginalization of Black artists in Canada.

Michèle Pearson Clarke’s Suck Teeth Compositions (After Rashaad Newsome) is currently on view in Room B109 at the National Gallery of Canada. Share this article and subscribe to our newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest articles, Gallery exhibitions, news and events, and to learn more about art in Canada.