In her first solo exhibition, artist Sadie Barnette has turned the history of her family into a work of art.

Her father, Rodney Barnette was a civil rights activist and founder of Black Panther Party chapter in Compton. The FBI kept a watch on Barnette, who was a Vietnam War veteran for his activism in the movement.

Photo: Broadly, courtesy of Sadie Barnette

This resulted in a 500-page surveillance including informant reports on his day-to-day activities from his post office job, interviews with neighbors, friends and employers, observations of him getting on planes and so much more.

Photo: The FADER, courtesy of Sadie Barnette

The knowledge of this surveillance involving the Black Panthers and other activists wasn't hidden. "It was always known in the Black Panther Party, and among other anti-war activists," Sadie told Broadly. At the time, they were under not only surveillance, but the party was infiltrated with informants. Sometimes FBI agents would present themselves as agents in order to intimidate people and sometimes it was more covert. But it wasn't until a few years ago that my dad wanted to request his FBI file. I think, for a lot of people, it's emotional and maybe not something that they really want to have firsthand contact with, but my dad really wanted the validation," she said.

He requested the file through an FOIA request, and after about three years, he retrieved documents.

Barnette decided to turn the files into art because she wanted to have a conversation about "what it means to protest against the government, which is our constitutional right."

Photo: Broadly, courtesy of Sadie Barnette

Wanting the files to speak for themselves, she took a minimalist approach. "I added these splashes of spray paint—mostly pink and some black spray paint. Some people think it references tagging or graffiti, and interpret it as my generation looking back at my father's generation. Some people think it looks like bullet holes or blood splatters. There's a reference to violence there. I also think of the pink as this little girl looking at her dad—like father-daughter, daddy's girl conversation. My dad is a person who I look up to as a hero. He's someone who I think was so brave and generous for dedicating his life to fighting for more people than just himself, but the FBI considered him an extremist," she said.

Of course, surveillance looks different now because of the way we communicate digitally, and Sadie wants to expand her work to that conversation as people become more aware, saying, "You don't need to literally follow someone around because you can tell where they are. With the Patriot Act, a lot of people were ready to sign away their rights to privacy in the name of national security. I don't think that less privacy leads to more civility. I think it leads to less ability for people to hold the government accountable."

You can read the full feature with Sadie Barnette over at Broadly/Vice.

Rodney Barnette

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