“I like the idea of like equilibrium,” Cameron Gray said while looking at a two-sided noose with one end secured tightly around the neck of a white baby doll in blackface. “The question is: What should be the thing in the other part of the noose?”

Gray, an Iowa State graduate student, will be presenting his first art show in Des Moines on July 21 at the Des Moines Social Club. 

“My grandma is not gonna like this,” Gray said, in reference to the baby doll. “She grew up during this shit, though. Like, this is real shit for her.”

The Birmingham, Alabama, native has put on several art shows previously in cities like St. Louis, Missouri and Auburn, Alabama, but this one, titled “Gentrified Experiences,” is different from the rest.

In addition to a swath of lithograph prints of tarot cards and charcoal-based canvas pieces, Gray is bringing another form of art to the Des Moines Social Club — the art of human interaction with the goal of increased understanding.

Gray is bringing in 100 pounds of fish, a DJ, a keg of beer, cards, a bounce house and juice boxes for kids. He said he is bringing an “authentic black experience” to Des Moines. He started a Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the exhibit. He said there’s still more to raise, but that he is blessed to be receiving support from the community.

“It’s all an experience,” Gray said. “I consider [the fish fry] as much as a piece of work, as well.”

The name, “Gentrified Experiences,” is a reference to white commerce and government entities altering predominantly-black areas in the pursuit of profit, a practice Gray said he understands, but believes is problematic.

“The downside of that, and what they don’t realize, is that you’re also taking a lot away from that community, as well,” Gray said.

His installation will do just the opposite and showcase an element of black culture in a white area. The fish fry is not just an example of the black experience to Gray, it is tied to deeply personal memories he holds dear. Gray was inspired to put on the fish fry from his experiences at family gatherings as a child.

“When I think of one of my fondest memories as a kid, was when I was going down to my grandmother’s house, and my aunties and uncles would be just cooking all day,” Gray said. “I would get there at like 11 [a.m.] and then play around and enjoy myself.”

Gray is keeping consistent with his memories by having a bounce house and having what he calls his “parents’ music,” being played by the DJ. 

“I didn’t have any control of the radio,” Gray joked. “They played whatever they wanted to play.”

The living exhibit is not merely for the social commentary, or to make a point artistically, but to bring people together who normally would not be in the same place at the same time and start a conversation.

“Like I said, start that conversation, but also give people who never get that experience to go to an authentic black fish fry, the opportunity to see what our lives are like and what that experience is like,” Gray said. “Because, I feel like for us to truly understand each other, we have to also be willing to go to those places that would make us feel uncomfortable and experience those things. Because, then you’re then moving in a way of experience and not hearsay.”

Gray doesn’t shy away from being provocative, and he admits his work is not always easy to look at, but that he finds a balance to presenting shocking imagery in an aesthetic fashion.

“That’s the middle ground I like to be in, in a sense of I’m using my work that… it is attention grabbing and it is somewhat provocative, but I also want it to be gorgeous at the same time,” he said. “You can admire the thing for it’s beauty but then also, you can admire the way that I’m talking to you.

“So if I can make a, you know… a baby hanging from a noose intriguing to you, I did my job. I did everything that I needed to do, and more.” 

Gray said people need to remember he is not creating a new story, he is finding ways to tell existing stories visually. He said if the content bothers people, they should do something about it, because much of the past parallels the future with modern day lynchings and police brutality.

“I always say before I go in the studio for the first time — or before I put a pencil to the page, if you will — I’m always strapping my boot straps, and I’m always going to fight,” Gray said. “We have to keep fighting, because if we don’t, God only knows where this country will be in.”

Gray notes his intent to fight for “the other” in society, those that often go unheard, and fight against white supremacy, but his intensity when creating, evident in his eyes, relaxes as he interacts with those around him.

“My work is for the people,” Gray said. “And no one else.”

People are highly important to Gray, much of his work is inspired by his family. He is a regular on Main Street in Ames, seemingly running into people he knows every time he steps out of the Design on Main building. He greets each person, asking questions about their life, taking brief moments to parse through the experiences of those in his life — his interest manifests as effortless as his smile.

Those moments are at a premium in his life in the days before July 21.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to correct the sentence “In addition to a swath of screen prints and charcoal-based canvas pieces, Gray is bringing another form of art to the Des Moines Social Club — the art of human interaction with the goal of increased understanding.” to read “In addition to a swath of lithograph prints of tarot cards and charcoal-based canvas pieces, Gray is bringing another form of art to the Des Moines Social Club — the art of human interaction with the goal of increased understanding.”