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Pimp Metaphysics: Diana McClure

Counter Intelligence with Diana McClure
This month I agreed to let Ray Tamarra of TheCrusade.net interview me. We discussed the meaning of Pimp Metaphysics: Counter Intelligence, beauty, art and other issues pertaining to my work as a photographer/artist, writer and most importantly--my work as a human being. One key motivation for writing this column has been to stimulate critical thought and dialogue around issues of materialism, integrity, exploitation and mass media within a commercial entertainment space.

Babylon give them a ride for their money
Get them funny, and then
Brainwash them on their western journey
--Sizzla

Truth has no path. Truth is living and, therefore, changing.
It has no resting place, no form, no organized institution, no philosophy.
When you see that, you will understand that this living thing is what you are.
--Bruce Lee

Why Pimp Metaphysics: Counter Intelligence?

Pimp metaphysics is about manipulation and exploitation of self-esteem. Essentially trying to break somebody down, find their weak point, and manipulate them through that weak point. The counter intelligence is what people do to counteract what someone else or society is trying to do to manipulate them. I think the pimp mentality happens not only on a personal level, specifically within pimp culture, but it also happens outside of that. Within American culture, economically, racially, it happens globally. The US pimps a lot of foreign countries. Pimpin' happens on many levels.

Don't you have to pimp someone so that you can get ahead? It's the capitalistic system. If you don't take advantage of someone else, then you are not going to thrive.

I do think that capitalism, the way it functions now, is based on pimpin'. I think you don't have to exploit people. You can do your best not to exploit people. But you also have to figure out in your own mind what getting ahead is, what thriving is? Is that based upon your material gain, your spiritual development, on how others perceive your humanity or physical appearance? Our society makes it hard not to, even unconsciously, affect someone else adversely. But, I think you can do your best to try not to do that. But you can't have your priority be money and material gain.

Do you think it's also pimpin' if you gain spiritual development? Regardless of what you get, if you're exploiting someone else, you're pimpin' them. Is the Dali Lama a pimp?

I think what you’re saying is that there are good forms of exploitation and bad forms of exploitation. Me using natural resources to build a roof over my head, I've exploited something in that process. But I did it for shelter. Maybe there are positive forms of exploitation. But I also reference back to certain indigenous cultures where you don't use things in excess. You use natural resources; kill cattle to have something to eat, but not to have things in excess. Not to horde things or keep things from other people. So you take what you need and leave the rest for others.

Are you a pimp? Do you exploit people to get ahead?

I do my best to not exploit people and to not manipulate people. I really try to not live by those values. When I use the word pimp, I'm referring to manipulation and exploitation. I really try not to do that. I don't think that's how people deserve to be treated. Obviously, I'm not perfect. I'm sure there's somebody out there that could say that I did that to them but I try to make it a point not to.

You have friends and colleagues in various sectors and you're pursuing a career in the arts. Do you have to be ruthless to get ahead in the art business?

(Laughs) In every business, there’s a ruthless element to it and then, I guess, I don't know what you'd call the other way. In the mainstream art world, there are definitely ruthless tactics and ass-kissin', certain ways to do things, certain people to talk to. Those are just things that I'm not really willing to do, no matter what industry I'm in. Whether it's commercial photography, artistic photography, getting a PhD. Whatever. I'm not willing to do that kinda stuff.

That's not to say there are not consequences for not doing it. It's a lot harder to possibly be financially well off. I think in the long run, you still have your integrity and your character. That's what's important to me.

Have you second guessed your ideals or integrity? Maybe if you would have compromised, or chosen a different path, things would be easier.

I feel inherently that I'm an artist and this is the path that God or the universe has laid out for me, so I have to follow it. It's not all good all the time. Even though I love being creative, it's not always a pretty road. Sometimes I do say "If I had been a business woman, it would be so much easier financially. I wouldn't have to worry about this, that, or the other." But that's just not what I am. I don't really have a choice. This is the path I'm supposed to take.

I can also afford to take this path because I don't have any kids. I don't have those responsibilities. Fortunately, my parents are OK so I don't have these external responsibilities and I can afford to do this.

It's harder on one level, but on a lot of levels, it's not harder, it's easier. I meet a lot of people who are well off but they have to act a certain way, and then you get caught up acting that way in order to maintain the appearance so other people will want to do business with you. You can get caught up in that whole thing. And at the end of the day, material things don't keep you warm at night. They don't keep you company. They don't nurture your soul. There are hard parts to both paths. This path is just the one that I work best with.

I also think that everyone has their certain path or journey in life. So its not that everybody should do what I'm doing or that there aren't people who are successful in every way that shouldn't have done what they did. Maybe that was their path. That's what they were meant to do in this lifetime. That's their journey, their lessons that they had to learn. So I'm not saying that no one should do that. This is just personally for me; the path that I'm taking and the experiences that I've had...the bottom line for me is that I'm a spontaneous person (laughs). I like to have a good time. And I like to feel good on the inside. I was always told you need to be able to sit in a room by yourself and be cool with it. Those are just things that I'm able to do so I enjoy doing them...I just follow my heart basically and this is where it's lead me. And that's what I've learned. I don't have many regrets. There's some mistakes for sure. But I don't really have regrets.

What would you change about society?

What I would like to see is people becoming more giving, more sharing. I would love to see a redistribution of wealth. I'd love to see that happen voluntarily, where people realize instead of spending $500 every week on a designer bag, they'd pay for some kid's state college tuition. I'd just like to see acts of kindness happen as a part of our character as Americans because we're a very fortunate country. Just more caring and compassion for your fellow human being in order for change to happen.

And it's hard to find that in our culture because we move so fast, we've become very tech savvy, and disconnected. So it’s kinda hard to find that reconnection but it happens with us, each individual. What we each do in our daily lives to help another person, so that's what I would like to see.

What are you doing to make that happen?

I've done different types of work, teaching here and there. But I'm trying to make change through my art. I have limited resources to do that but through art, I want to convey the beauty of spontaneity and the beauty inherent in everything, like we don't have to manufacture it. People are beautiful the way they are, that it's possible to see beauty anywhere if you engage intimately with your surroundings. I'm a very intellectual and mental type of person so I feel that my purpose, through thought, writing, and art, is to provoke people to think and experience life more fully or to feel more comfortable, to really express how they feel. But I'm always in conflict with that and wondering should I be doing something more hands on, like being a teacher or a nurse.

Your art examines beauty and how advertisers use it to sell products. Being an attractive woman, has the manipulation of beauty positively or negatively affected you?

First, I think we're twisted in terms of what beauty is. The exploitation of sex and advertising are not beautiful to me, at all. It's ugly! I'm tired of seeing ads just trying to sell me stuff based on a fantasy of some faraway thing that might happen. There's no truth in it. I don't find that beautiful at all and I think that people are twisted and we are having our minds manipulated. That's the point of advertising, to manipulate your mind, to pimp you so that you don't know what beauty is anymore.

When you engage with your surroundings in a more intimate way, you start to see beauty everywhere, in places you never thought it was. Then manufactured beauty is no longer attractive.

And for myself, the whole Pimp Metaphysics: Counter Intelligence project resulted from women being objectified and seen only from the outside, to be an arm piece or a little token. I wanted to do something that would counteract that idea, to show the tools that women use to counteract that manipulation.

There are women who strive to be trophy wives or girlfriends? Is this a societal norm? And what woke you up to see past that ingrained manipulation?

(Laugh) What woke me up was personal experience. If you're involved in hip hop culture or entertainment culture on certain levels, the exploitation of women is huge. Unless a young girl is educated by someone, at a young age, to realize how people are reacting to you, to realize that sexuality is something sacred, not something you throw around all over the place, unless someone teaches you that, you don't know. You have to go out in the world and figure it out for yourself. I respect someone else's opinion so if they are happy being a trophy wife, okay. But I would beg to differ. Maybe a lot of women think there's no other choice than to be treated as a trophy or arm-piece and your worth is based on your ability to be sexually attractive. And that's not what your worth is based on. It's just an added bonus or something you can utilize.

If this was a matriarchal society and women were in power, what would be different?

(Laughs) I think there could potentially be a lot more cooperation and compassion. I think there's some confusion going on in terms of women adopting masculine values in an unbalanced manner. I think that men and women have masculine and feminine qualities. It's about finding a balance and working together, respecting those uniquely masculine and feminine qualities. I obviously don't have all the answers but from what I've discovered, women represent the unknown, the mysterious, the intangible.

You can symbolically see that because women give birth, and we don't fully understand that miracle. Our society can't accept that there are things that are unknowable or intangible. Rather it's "we can progress and progress and progress and be in control of absolutely everything." We can run everything. Conquer everything. That's just counter to what women symbolically represent. And that's what's missing in society. Our acceptance of the unknowable. And that we are all interconnected. Whatever I do affects the person next to me, and affects someone else along down the line too.

Do you think that sense of interconnection and community has vanished with the anonymous nature of the internet?

I used to be very anti-technology. But recently, I've gotten more involved in it and I'm starting to see how there's this whole other community aspect to it. Through writing, I've found there's some closeness that I can create with people but its not physical proximity or intimacy, just something else. A while ago, I would have said, “Technology has ruined community. It's terrible.” But now I'm realizing that that might not necessarily be the case.

Do you consider your art a form of communication and what are you trying to say?

I think it’s a form of communication. Some forms of my art are just to stimulate thought. I just want to make people think about what they are seeing. The whole visual culture, whether its art or advertising, there is something to be learned from both about how you read visually. I'd really just love for people to be more aware of how they are being manipulated through media. This was something that I was taught when I was really little so I guess it's just in me.

And then just straight up photography, some of that is just really about beauty and intimacy and realizing how we overlook things all the time. There are essences everywhere! In life, we are all trying to connect to that essence always. We're always seeking that. And it's everywhere around us but it depends on how intimately you're living your life everyday.

What are some things that are beautiful to you?

That's a hard one to answer. I think compassion is beautiful. Friendship is beautiful. I love color. I love the experience of nature, the natural forces. I think music can be beautiful. I guess I look for emotion. I find emotion to be beautiful and I can see that in different things.

Do you think the entertainment industry exploits or celebrates beauty?

One thing I'm working on personally is not looking at things as either or. I definitely tend to do that. I think the entertainment industry exploits beauty and it can celebrate it. It's a fine line that's hard to walk. Immediately, the first musical person that comes to mind is Marvin Gaye in terms of his music being beautiful, the truth that he put into it, is from his soul. I think that's what makes beautiful art. And music, even if its popular music has gotten away from letting things come from a soulful, spontaneous place. Maybe we're starting to go back towards it a little bit.

Besides celebrating musical art, how do you think people of color receive visual art? When I was younger, I thought art was high brow, over my head. Art was not speaking to me and not a part of my environment.

Art was a part of my environment in a very distant way, growing up. I remember that we had a couple of Haitian paintings in my house that were always in the back of my consciousness. But I think visual art is something that hasn't been widely recognized in African American culture. I always felt that there was this split possibly because of Christianity, between the art, including visual art and music, and people who were more pious and following Christian ethics. I recently saw a presentation on African American art and I was just so amazed! If kids got to see this in elementary school, it would be amazing because you see resistance and all the emotions that it entails, in terms of African American history, in terms of slavery, Civil Rights, and all of that.

Because on one level, we're still ashamed of our past in this country. And I think through visual art, there's a way to make peace with that or understand that shame, and to stop being ashamed of the past and to know that there were people who were fighting, who weren't just laying back and taking it. I think it would be great if we had more awareness of the visual arts in African American culture. Maybe since hip hop has become so commercial and photography and graphic design are such a huge part of it, people could potentially become more visually active, once we start looking at all that artwork that's been created, and seeing what it's saying about our recent history in terms of how we've been living, and our values.

You mentioned hip hop and activism, in this election year, can the art and hip hop be a catalyst for change in government?

I think it can, definitely. Some of the characteristics of hip hop that I love and why I associate with it are this whole idea of spontaneity and diversity and truth. And I say spontaneity because I think there's a lot of truth when you're spontaneous. Especially the diversity element of hip hop, those are some serious qualities that our government hasn't fully instilled, this whole equal-opportunity thing in this country. That hasn't really happened even though we talk about it and it's supposedly in law. I think just the mentality of the people in the hip hop generation; it's inherent to have a respect for diversity. And to not discriminate, except for women. It would be interesting to see this develop in future generations. And in our generation, to see if some of those people who get into political office, how those values will play out.

But I think internationally, hip hop is a force for political change. A lot of people internationally are aware of some of the old school hip hop and the more positive phases of hip hop and are utilizing them in struggles abroad. So I think that's kind of interesting politically in terms of forming solidarity internationally. We're having the National Hip Hop Political Convention, and all that Russell Simmons is doing, so it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with that, if it all turns into propaganda or if its actually real.

You noted that despite the diversity in hip hop, women were still not respected. Will that ever change?

It has to change. We're kinda of a transition generation. The whole male-female relationship thing is in a difficult place because people don't know their roles. Women are becoming more active, having careers, thinking for themselves, looking for more equality in relationships. And we haven't figured out how we're going to deal with that. It's almost a generation away since the women's movements beginnings, so I think we're still in a confused place right now but it's definitely pushing forward. There's no going back.

I also think it's about valuing women's essences. If you look back historically at the role of women spiritually in a lot of cultures, you can find a lot of answers. But unfortunately, a lot of that history has been erased or sublimated. We don't really know about it. I think it's up to women to change, to understand who we are, what we have to offer as women verses being the same as men.

Does hip hop celebrate or objectify women?

(Laughs) I think hip hop objectifies them a lot. Underneath that somewhere, there's some celebration. Maybe it's a fearful celebration. But I definitely don't think we are celebrated in the abundance that we should be celebrated.

What does conscious capitalism bring to mind?

Conscious Capitalism, like I was saying before, means being more giving, and sharing, and really wanting people to live better lives. To be able to eat, have a place to live, and even have neighborhoods that are taken care of. Why do certain neighborhoods get better treatment than others? Certain schools in certain neighborhoods get better treatment than others? Just equal some of that out. I don't think we can go back to Communism or Socialism, but capitalism has got to evolve and become more benevolent. If we keep going at the rate we're going, it's gonna self-destruct.

Diana McClure’s most recent exhibition was the Feb/Mar 2004 group show, “Work It! Images of Women in Hip-Hop” at Eyejammies Fine Art Gallery in NYC

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