"BlackWomanhood" exhibition at the Hood Museum of Art

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I drove out to Hanover, NH, about 2.5 hours from Boston, to see the Black Womanhood exhibition that was being shown at the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. Not only was it a beautiful drive from the city, but it was well worth the trip. Being the first time that we'd traveled out to New Hampshire together, it was a memorable experience. So what had me driving to Hanover, NH on a Wednesday afternoon? Yes, you guessed it(probably not),not only would I have the opportunity to take a look at this highly anticipated show, but they were also having a Black Womanhood Film Festival. This event would be featuring  three films highlighting the issues like colorism and identity within black women, each coming from different perspectives, particularly geographical prospectives differing between black women from Africa, America, and other extensions of the African diaspora. The film that I came to see was Black Women On: The Light Dark Thang by Celeste Crenshaw and Paula Caffey. Never have I seen a documentary that I felt like crying so hard over, like the other two films("Fantacoca" from Africa, Africas by Agnes Ndibi and Perfect Image by Maureen Blackwood) this film expressed the identity struggles of skin tone amongst the African diaspora. There were various different points of views, shades, and representations of Black women sharing their experiences. I felt in so many ways that I shared some of the same experiences they did. I wondered constantly while watching these women, why black women don't talk about these issues more often. It became clear as the film was coming to a close, as the stories were intensifying, the reason why it's not a popular subject amongst most sisters, the pain. With tears one of the women confessed her frustration with the representation of dark-skinned women in black films, the emphasis on this type of woman being considered ugly and the love interest being a lighter-skinned woman. It pained me to see how she identified with this representation, yet it frustrated her so deeply at the same time.

These are similar expressions that the artists upstairs in the main exhibit shared, as they were juxtaposed next to each other as if they were performing an open forum on the intense struggle of being a black woman not just in America, but everywhere. I felt the intensity of each piece as the artist shared their views, their objections, and their conclusions. Some artists were familiar to me, such as artists like Kara Walker,Carrie Mae Weems, Alison Saar, Carla Williams,Renee Cox, Joyce Scott, and Magdalena Campos-Pons. However, there were a great majority of artists who weren't, mostly because some were not African American artists, such as Maud Sulter(whom I was intensely impressed with), Penny Siopis, Malick Sidibe, Berni Searle, Etiye Dimma Poulsen, Ingrid Mwangi/Robert Hutter, Hassan Musa, Wangechi Mutu, Zanele Muholi,Lalla Essaydi, and many others. I felt so engulfed in this mass space of representations that included traditional African art mixed with the new interpretations of contemporary artists. Overall I found the exhibition very helpful for me, and it gave me such a peace to see all of these wonderful black women recognized in one space for their artistic talents. I felt grateful that I was able to see the show up-close-and-personal instead of just looking through an exhibition catalogue(which you know I had to get, thanks to my wonderful husband for adding another wonderful book to my collection!). 

Although each of these women and men brought wonderful work to my attention that was so needed for my growth as an artist, I felt most compelled by the works of artists Maud Sulter(Scottish) and Berni Searle. To me their aesthetic decisions were very suggesting to my own style, and things I'd like to accomplish in my work. Particularly with Berni Searle (South African)and her piece Traces(1999, above image), and her use of red, yellow, and brown spices to represent the color texture of skin tones reminded me of images that I did after my first residency that was for me a digital sketch of the divisions of colorism(image below). It reminded me of a flag in some ways, but my intent was to use photo transfers to then make diffentiations between what is considered red, yellow, and brown toned.

When I look at Searle's Traces I see the same divison that I created, and I felt that was so interesting to me that we both orchestrated these color expressions in the same order,( l to r) red, yellow, and black. I wondered what that could have possibly meant(if anything at all), and more importantly I'm interested with how we seemed to see this order so similarly. This makes me think of apartheid, and the divisions that existed there when in it's prominent era. I felt that we were both in a way communicating this systematic structure that seems to remain present even as we try effortlessly to push it away. I also found it interesting that Searle also has a series of works that include images with text, or use text on it's own, which I felt was even more  related to my work as well.

With Maud Sulter's Terpsichore(1989, below) I was interested in the staging within her photographs, which was part of a series where she had black women artists posing as muses. I'm intrigued by the idea of digital performance and the presence of movement within my images. I see a relation as the performance artist Della Street in the image is posed as a aristocratic woman, which represents for me a sense of movement physicologically as you feel that you've caught her in the midst of playful suggestions. You know that this is not her normal attire or hair, therefore suggesting the movement that took place to create this mask of identity. 

So in a nutshell there was a lot that I gained from the show, in addition to the fact that I met exhibition curator Barbara Thompson, whom I had the opportunity to speak with prior to the last film in the festival. She was extremely knowledgeable about the subject of black women, and it was impressive to see someone with so much passion about the works of these artists. It was inspiring, and I'm glad that I had the chance to converse with her, because she added much insight on how to approach such a broad subject like "Black womanhood." She expressed her concern with the tendency that is placed on the generalized notion of being a "black woman" in society, when there are a number of different expressions that exist. In the case of this exhibit, it proved to show a significant element of geographical difference.

After so much to absorb out of that experience, I walked away not with a totally full impression on what black womanhood was about, but definitely a more well-rounded one. The breakdown of our various different experiences and roles in society, how they affect us, and the representation of ourselves in imagery was what stuck out to me the most. I could really literally go on and on, but I feel empowered by what these women artists have presented. Not just because they are black, but because for the first time in a long time I've been able to engage in art that speaks to my own personal story, experiences, and points of view. So I say great job to these ladies! Maybe one day I'll be joining you to share my perspective.