The image for this post is drawn from the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art exhibit in Atlanta that just ended. The exhibit “Harmonia Rosales: Master Narrative” entwines West African religion and art techniques of the Renaissance period. Pictured here: Rosales’ work “The Birth of Oshun.” Learn more about the Afro-Cuban artist who reimagines Renaissance art with Black people at the center.
I spent 3 hours on Friday night watching Beyoncé’s film, Renaissance. I didn’t go to her concert tour, but I felt blessed to understand the back story. I have spent several hours since then thinking about Beyoncé, listening to her music, falling in love with her music and messages of empowerment for women, men, the queer community, Black women. As I watched the film, I connected to Beyoncé’s Renaissance and my renaissance.
I share my renaissance journey in Blackwildgirl: A Writer’s Journey to Take Back Her Superpower will be published by She Writes Press, April 2, 2024.
I learned a few key lessons from Renaissance that connect to my life. I’m sharing my reflections because I believe we all have renaissance moments in our life journey.
I am also embedding art from the amazing and incredible Afro-Cuban American artist Harmonia Rosales, who challenges traditional depictions of art from the Renaissance period: “I am a womanist who endlessly explores black female empowerment through visual art that challenges ideological hegemony and the subordinate woman in contemporary society.”
The lessons from Renaissance.
1. There is always a Behind-the-Scenes Back Story.
Beyoncé shared that it took four years of planning before the baby – the concert tour – was birthed. Beyoncé had a huge binder of set designs, clothing designs, and ideas. The beautiful gift of the 56-city tour was years in the making. Many times, we work behind the scenes in almost obscurity and invisibility before our projects manifest. As writers, it is our fingers, our pencils, pens, papers, and computers. For years, often, we have been working, thinking, researching, and reading, trying to figure out what the puzzle pieces are and where they should go.
My book, Blackwildgirl , took 45 years to make. I was writing in journals for 45 years and my writing could have stayed in those journals. Yet, I heard the call to do more to make a difference for others – that others might benefit from Blackwildgirl. And so, in 2019, I went to a retreat center with boxes full of journals, laid them all out, and spent three weeks transcribing entries I thought were relevant. After three weeks, I had a rough draft of a new book. Yet, it would take 5 more years before the baby would be born. Her due date is April 2, 2024. The lesson is that we all have behind-the-scenes back stories, often years in the making. We have to learn to trust and value the quiet, invisible, unrewarded behind-the-scenes work in our lives, knowing that at some point, the curtain will be pulled back for our light to shine.
The artist whose work I profiled had a similar behind-the-scenes backstory. Harmonia Rosales’ exhibition at Spelman featured seven years' worth of work. Work behind the scenes, work in a studio, work invisible. Working until the moment her 20 works and installation could be revealed.
2. Manage Your Light.
In one clip Beyoncé speaks about the role of lights and lighting. Beyoncé shared about her fascination with lights and lighting for the stage. The obvious thought is that the spotlights should always shine on her, for she is the star! Yet, she shares that she has learned that sometimes less light is needed and that less light is, in fact, more.
For me, it raises the question, when do we need to have the light shine on us? Sometimes, we need the light to shine on us and sometimes we need less light. We all have a little light in us that we need to let shine. It is our responsibility to let it shine. We just need to learn how to manage our light. More importantly, we need to use our light as a spotlight to help others shine their light.
3. Be The Star of Your Own Show.
Beyoncé was the writer, director, and producer of Renaissance. I love this. She knew what she wanted and managed the project to get the desired outcome. She owned the outcome and the process to achieve the outcome.
This is exactly what each of us should do in our own lives. Each of us is the star of our own show and life. We should be the writer, the producer, and the director of our own life. We have that responsibility, no matter how challenging our journeys, even with the structural barriers that often seem to define our outcomes.
4. Manage a great team.
Renaissance required a well-orchestrated team, a vast team. It was terrific to understand the magnitude of people behind the tour. There were three sets. There were 56 shows. One set is in use, one set is being set up, and one set is on the way to the next. So, there were drivers and set-up and take-down crews. Beyonce mentioned how many women she saw working on the crews. But, in addition to the crew team and the transportation team, there were many, many mini-teams, all part of the larger team – technical engineers, sound engineers, dancers, musicians, assistants, cooks, and more. Producing the tour and the film required a mastery of management and leadership. Beyoncé was ultimately the CEO of this team. In one segment, she shares the challenge and reality of being a Black woman and having to fight against being undermined and challenged and questioned. When building teams, we often try to look for a combination of tangible and intangible skills. Beyonce shared that one of the dancers she hired was dancing in a video that went viral. Her wig came off, and she kept dancing. For Beyonce, she saw an intangible quality in the dancer, someone who valued the dance more than her appearance. She said, she hired her on the spot!
Each of us must be the CEO of our own little teams, our life teams. We are continually required to work in and with teams—at work, at home, and in our families. And as the CEO of our own little teams, we need to try to find and manage demeanors, attitudes, and skills. We are not islands, and we cannot accomplish anything alone. We need great teams, and great teams line up behind great visions.
Beyoncé spoke about the purpose of Renaissance: to “open the door for the next generation…that’s why we live.” She shared that she sees the concerts as a space for transferring energy from herself to the audience and from the audience to her. I think this reciprocal relationship is important for artistic work. Art is a powerful energy field and being able to promote love through that energy field is a powerful purpose. How can we in small or large ways open the door for the next generation? How can we encourage more love in the world?
It is important to be able to understand and articulate your vision, if even for your own life, and then create the team to support your vision. Harmonia’s vision is clear: “I am a womanist who endlessly explores black female empowerment through visual art that challenges ideological hegemony and the subordinate woman in contemporary society.” I love it!
5. Talent + Hard Work + Discipline + Commitment to Excellence = Success.
Beyoncé’s success is a direct result of her tremendous talent, hard work, and discipline. She has incredible talent as an artist. She is a phenomenal singer, dancer, choreographer, fashion designer, writer, producer, director. However, talent alone is not enough. There were hours and hours of time, hard work, and discipline. Discipline is doing when you are exhausted and doing when you don’t want. Talent, hard work, and discipline must be combined with a commitment to excellence and quality. One scene that stands out for me is Blue Ivy saying, “Mom, we are wasting time about fingers.” Blue Ivy’s perception of time wasting was Beyoncé’s focus on perfecting her craft. Beyoncé was providing feedback on how the fingers in a set should move. Details matter when we care about quality. We cannot have quality without details. Excellence and mastery of craft requires an attentiveness to details and the small things. It is impossible to watch the Renaissance and not appreciate the level of attention to detail, hard work, talent, and discipline.
In one backstory scene, Beyoncé looks exhausted in the film. She was speaking about how much time and attention and hours were required for her to create the masterpiece. My grandmother, with a sixth-grade education, sent me an excerpt from a poem from Henry Wardsworth Longfellow: “The heights that great men reached and kept were not obtained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept were toiling upwards through the night.”
It is clear that Beyoncé was toiling while others were sleeping. It is clear that Harmonia has worked hard. She is self-trained! Many people have talent. Very few have the work ethic and discipline and commitment to excellence that is necessary for talent to manifest into the world. There is a level of sacrifice required for excellence. Of course, we have to balance self-care and rest. (see Simon Says, Take Two Giant Steps Backward). https://menahpratt.com/simon-says-take-two-giant-steps-backward/