By Malcolm Ryder
The Encyclopedia Britannica defines a social movement as being essentially a “collective”:
a loosely organized but sustained campaign in support of a social goal… that results from the more or less spontaneous coming together of people whose relationships are not defined by rules and procedures but who merely share a common outlook on society. The definition doesn’t explain the spontaneity of the movement, but we know that it requires people’s being able to recognize each other and communicate, even when they don’t yet have some other kind of relationship.
The Gathering
At 1606 7th Street in West Oakland, the upbeat on-land headquarters of the Hella Positive movement sits part of each day in the shadow of massive BART tracks. All day, trains whip by overhead at a noise level that drowns out conversations inside and out back of the site’s single, stark, rectangular space. The riders will have already passed the closest stop to it; already passed their chance to take notice.
But no matter. From inside of here, Hella Positive continually makes itself noticed online. There, it defines itself as “a streetwear brand dedicated to inspiring hella positive thinking, interactions and unifying activities within communities.” Literally, it spreads its sign, its signals of caring, throughout the city, each customer becoming an eye-level missionary for this common outlook on society.
Hella Positive’s creator and owner Ebrahim Leri, aka #ebbiewuzhere, is the main missionary. But he sees himself more as a recipient of the message than a sender, and he constantly thanks and credits his partners for making things work. From that standpoint, he easily conveys how the gathering together starts. “Artists always need someplace to show their work, and I have one,” he noted about how his store doubles as an art gallery – a center of attraction as well as a distributor of inspiration. As he sees it, artwork gets done to do the same thing that his brand does, but with a bonus: art intensifies the direct connections, both the artist-to viewer link, and the artist-to-artist link. Then viewers see themselves reflected in each other. He’s describing how the movement he stokes can become a community, which is what he really wants.
“Sharing is what makes us human,” he told me in an interview. Especially, we agreed, that it is humanizing as well; in our times of extended distress, its importance in the mission is that it finds us – it takes us in when we need to be with other people; helps us discover how to be more than what we are when we’re down; and stirs us to keep going towards a better place. Hella Positive has joined, hosted, and gathered artists at this site for all of its five years in existence, but during that time it has hung on by a thread, through COVID’s isolation, a treacherous economy, and the every-day challenge of being on 7 th Street. It sits on one of the most historically famous stretches of street front in all of Oakland – in what used to be called The Harlem of the West – but this West Oakland corridor has been enormously vulnerable to development decisions over the years that have pushed the street out of sight and safety, not just off the beaten path but literally under the tracks. Still, that’s a familiar scenario for artists. Artists take such places and transform them, leading and inspiring by example. And by collaborating.
The Action
Ebrahim gives art and artists credit for changing himself and his energy, too. He thankfully
celebrates becoming, as he confesses, less controlling and more collaborative. Artists come by to talk to him about their work and themselves, and from there things can go a couple of ways – he may set a theme for artists to follow and show, or artists may bring their own group of work to show with his help.
In November, the gallery featured the X-Folx Show, comprising works inspired by the famous X-Men comics, in which the main characters were people with mutations, feared and marginalized by society. “Growing up with X-Men was an early way to grasp what being different and ‘othered’ would be like,” he pointed out. And now a lot of artists who have experienced the same in their real life are able to practice and share their mutual empathy by coming together and exhibiting. “It was the most successful show we’ve had here.”
But everyone needs art, he says aloud, like a mantra. He is committed to demonstrating what it does and that it works. And he’s also busy helping other places in the Bay Area get themselves organized for artists and exhibits as well. Traveling the Bay Area is typical of Ebrahim, who logged time in Concord, San Ramon, Martinez, and Berkeley while being anchored on Oakland’s 7 th Street. In 2011 he founded Hella Positive amongst a group of friends who called themselves the “Lost Boys”. Between then and now, he worked in marketing, retail, real estate, food service, and even preschool education. But throughout, there was continuity. “I first heard ‘hella’ from a guy through an open car window. It’s an Oakland thing. I knew I would adopt it right away.” Hella Positive was the vision he had in the heat of that moment. So started the movement. And so he became its missionary.
Not that long ago, one of the strongest signs of the community’s reality was the exceptional generosity that developed in a Go Fund Me campaign pulling Hella Positive back from a crisis point. “It was way more than I expected,” he marveled, quiet and thankful. Always co-existing as a retail and community space, the gallery will have a December show to try to capture the season’s spirits, followed by a February 2025 show that is only now beginning to formulate itself in his mind. Ebrahim says he doesn’t know what it is yet. But at Hella Positive, it’s going to be something that comes from a We, not a Me.
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Images:
- Hella Positive; Courtesy of Hella Positive
- Portrait of Ebrahim Leri; Malcolm Ryder
- Hella Positive X-Folx Show
East Bay resident and artist Malcolm Ryder is a photographer and writer creating and critiquing visual art as well as managing organizations for visual artists. He is an arts graduate of Princeton University; a former jurying specialist at the NEA, NYSCA and NYFA; a former board member of arts non-profits in SF and Berkeley; and a current board member of Oakland Art Murmur and the East Bay Photography Collective. He exhibits across the Bay Area, publishes online at www.malcolmryder.com, and runs the multi-year collaborative art project Oaktown Pictures, at https://www.oaktown.pictures .