Black Womanhood Symposium

The Davis Museum and Cultural Center is currently showing Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the African Body  until December 14, 2008. I had the privilege to go to the Black Womanhood Symposium this past weekend. It was an awesome and  overwhelming experience to see so many black scholars in one venue. It's a rarity and yet at times one doesn't know how to handle that much "black power" at one time. I was so encouraged  that my husband also decided to tag along with me, as I know it's not one of his favorite subjects. I think it would be a challenge for me too if I were a man entering into the room with all of these black women talking on the issues and challenges of being a black woman in society. 

To my surprise my husband and I came to agreement about two particular people who presented at the symposium, that was scholor Dr. Abena P.A. Busia and artist Renee Cox. Obviously, we had missed the whole set of presenters in the first session, and we were only able to catch the second half. But we were taken by the boldness of Renee, and the passion and intellect that Dr. Abena shared with everyone. Dr. Busia did a very extensive talk on Saar Bartman and it was so compelling. For me the mention of Saar Bartman was a first since I've been in grad school. NO where else have I heard a name mentioned so much, in terms of black art. This is because before I entered grad school I wasn't aware of the separate genre of black art and works from Africa that are beyond African masks and primitiveness. So I found Dr. Busia's talk so insightful for my study because she talked about so many issues in the exhibiting of Saar Bartman in London, and the tragedy of her death as well. She also brought up some interesting points in regards to how black women are portrayed in art by non-black artists. And how that has caused even some black critics to accept certain ideas on black women. There was one particular image that struck me in her presentation. It was an image of a white women on the left, two light-skinned Algerian women in the center, and a image of a dark-skinned black woman at the far right. I wasn't able to catch the name of that painting, but Dr. Busia said something so profound about that image. It had to deal with a comment that was made about the painting that totally silenced the darker complexioned woman on the right. It made me think about a lot of the issues that I'm dealing with my current work, and I thought "Wow that's so interesting."  I did manage to speak with her after the session was over so I'm hoping that I might be able to inquire about the name of this image. She also seemed to be well versed in African, African diaspora films so that's another thing I'd love to ask her. 

I was also able to speak with Renee Cox which I thoroughly enjoyed. She had some really good insight as well, and unconsciously pin pointed a major issue that I'm dealing with in my most recent works, the brown paper bag test. I was asking her advice or asking about her challenges with studying and making art with the minimum amount of writings on black art in her day. We were speaking about issues that she faced in people not understanding her work, and she was so free in expressing the need for new people to step up to the plate and write about art. She particularly expressed the need for black people to write about art because in her eyes we need to be more vocal in the arts community. I really felt that so strongly as I've been thinking a lot about that lately. But, she went on to talk about her reasonings for choosing to date outside of her race. I don't exactly remember how the conversation went in that direction but I found her reasons very intriguing. She talked about not wanting black men to make her feel inferior because she wasn't lighter than a brown paper bag. I thought to myself  "Wow!" I say this because looking at her I don't see her as being dark, so I wasn't expecting her to actually reference the "brown paper bag" itself. I think it stuck with me because I've been doing a lot of work with brown paper bag so I thought it was amazing to hear her reference that. Unfortunately,  we weren't able to finish that convo as I began to tell her that I was dealing with those particular issues in my work. But I walked away thinking "Hmmm...If Renee Cox has experienced anxiety and rejection in regards to colorism than what I'm talking about isn't silly at all." I felt quite compelled to write more about black art after talking to her, though I have been contemplating it more often anyway. I felt that the symposium really left me with alot to think about, and really gave allowed me to see how right my presumptions had been about the way black issues are perceived.

After the sessions there was a presentation by the Wellesley African Student Association that my husband and I did not like at all. There seemed to be an overwhelmingly anti-Christian rhetoric going on which was really quite uncalled for. It seemed to me that these women had a negative connotation for Christianity because of the influence of colonalism on their country. I really felt bad for these ladies, as I can definitely understand how this type of deceptive concept could be misinterpreted. I think it's quite sad that because there were white people  who used Christanity as a means to rationalize their motives of trying to take control and dominate other countries, has caused some Africans and other cultures to dismiss Christanity all together. It's just like all the hypocracy within some people in ministry has created difficulty for some non-believers to come to Christ. All of this shouldn't be, because man's sinfulness shouldn't be looked upon as if God wants to see people in pain. This issue is a  different blog entry though,  but ultimately they brought up some intense issues such as ploygamy, female circumcision, and sexual education in African countries. 

And to close out there were performances by Boston-based artist Magadelena Campos-Pons and another artist Dineo from South Africa, who caused some confusion for some of the viewers because she didn't originally come out. However, the presenter did give us a disclaimer that the performance would begin in one place and end down stairs. I guess we weren't listening. On another note, it was a pleasure to speak with the exhibition curator Barabara Thompson, who has now moved on to Stanford University. She has become a truly helpful, and insightful friend since I've met her. It was great to be there to celebrate her hard work, and see how deep being a black woman can be.