Transcript
A (0:09)
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. It's the fall season, which means new art shows are at the museums and galleries. We'll start with a show at the Bronx Museum by a woman who refers to herself as a testimonial artist. Her name is Reverend Joyce McDonald. Born in Brooklyn, New York, her life has been full of loss, healing and transformation and is the inspiration for her sculpture. Almost 30 years sober, she has been living with HIV. She's been working for four decades. And now, for the first time, there is a museum exhibition dedicated to her work. It's called Ministry. The show assembles more than 75 artworks and photos between the years of 1999 and 2002. Ministry is on display at the Bronx Museum of Art starting tomorrow, Friday, September 5th. Joining me in studio is artist Reverend Joyce McDonnell. It is so nice to meet you.
B (1:08)
And thank you for having me. This here is beautiful here.
A (1:11)
May I call you Joyce?
B (1:12)
Oh, sure. Okay.
A (1:13)
Joyce.
B (1:14)
Yes.
A (1:15)
What conversations did the Bronx Museum have with you about having an exhibition for your show?
B (1:23)
Well, it was basically like four years ago because I'm a longtime member of Visual aids, that's the agency for artists that has. That's HIV positive. And Kyle has spoken about that. He saw a vision of me having an art show in the Bronx. Oh, wow. And myself, you know, art is so up close and personal. That was like, too big for me to even think about, you know, and here it is. I was just thinking last night, and here it is. That time has come and so many things has happened between the time that he said this and it's really here.
A (2:03)
Religion is a big part of your life.
B (2:05)
Yes.
A (2:05)
The show is called Ministry. How did Religion come to your life?
B (2:10)
Religion? Well, my family were born again Christians, and I was raised up in a Christian home. Unconditional love, and they used to call us the Black Brady Bunch. My dad took us on trips. He enlightened us. He used to take us around to museums and things like that. But I, you know, a couple of things happened in my teenage years and I kind of strayed away. It was so, like, slow and. But I strayed away. And before that, I believed in God because my parents believed in God and I saw how they were, but not because I necessarily believed. And when I did come to a point, after 25 years, through all kinds of stuff, all kinds of stuff, she. Building straight jackets, kidnapped. Everything is all through my work. I was standing on the street one day in my neighborhood and I heard a voice because I used to always Hear voices. It would say, jump in front of the train, negative thing. And this voice said, go to church. And I remember laughing, saying, I haven't been to church 30 years except for some of the people. There's so many people that died from AIDS and drug addiction. Only funerals. And I went to proceed upstairs. My mom was in church, my two daughters, my sister and I, you know, as an intravenous drug user. And I remember shooting these. I will say it was my last drugs, basically. And then the next thing I remember because I always had these, like, seemed like out of body experiences. Next thing, I blinked my eyes, I was at the church for real. And I'm like. And I walk up the steps and the pastor, who is still my. He's my pastor today. He said, we've been praying for you a long time. And I remember walking up, I didn't see anyone in church, nobody. And I remember that day, he said, you want to change your life? Come as you are. Give your heart to God. And I did the prayer of imitation. Ask Christ to come in my heart and forgive me. It's like my whole life changed. It didn't change that exact moment, but I felt God implanted. And from then on, by that time, my daughters were like 14, 15. I had been to 60 detoxes. I was always trying for something, but I didn't know what it was. I could never find what it was. But that day when I asked God the Lord to come in my heart, it really, really changed me.