(Don’t) Use Me

2022

creative strategist + marketing strategist

Artist Autumn Breon’s live guerrilla performance (Don’t) Use Me makes its Los Angeles debut on Friday, February 18th during Frieze Art Fair outside of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. An exercise in radical spectacle, the performance is the culmination of the artist’s qualitative examination of time through the lens of Black womxn’s labor. Due to the racial and gender pay gaps, Black womxn are typically paid 63 cents for every dollar paid to white men. According to the National Women's Law Center, this adds up to a loss of $2,009 each month. Based on this data, it takes about eight months into the next calendar year for a Black woman to earn what a white man earns in 365 days. To reclaim and further quantify this lost time, Autumn Breon invited Black womxn to respond to the following question: What would you do with eight extra months of paid time? 

In collaboration with Voice, an edition of 50 NFTs will be minted. Each NFT will be the digital version of the physical flower (with the words of a Black woman) worn by Autumn Breon during the performance. Each survey participant will be included as a co-creator for the NFT they contributed to by participating; as a result, they will be paid in perpetuity as the digital art sells.

(Don’t) Use Me is presented with support from the Crenshaw Dairy Mart, Sip & Sonder, See Black Womxn, Voice, Blackbird House, and The Art of Equal Pay.