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Nine Artists| Nine Months | Nine Perspectives: Birth of 2020 Visions
Above image: Francine Haskins
2 - 24 October 2021
Adjoa Burrowes, Julee Dickerson-Thompson, Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Michele Godwin, Francine Haskins, Pamela Harris Lawton, Gloria Patton, Gail Shaw-Clemons, and Kamala Subramanian
The convergence of a world-wide pandemic, the cacophony of responses to the unrelenting murders of Black people, the call to heal the planet, the anniversary of the women’s suffrage movement, occurring simultaneously while the world looks on in astonishment as the corrupt United States government removes it’s mask of civility, have coalesced to create one of the most challenging years in U.S. history. Nine mature Black women artists gathered to share our individual observations, responses, and insights to this moment through our art practice, personal experiences, and research; demonstrating that Black women artists are not monolithic in our thinking or expressions.
We understand that the narratives of white people may take precedence in the gestation of traumatic events taking place. However, we reject the attempts of white neutrality to define our realities. In transforming our trauma, we created visual narratives to document our images, our words, and our assessments of this era; a transgressive act. As seasoned Womanist artists we have acquired skills over decades sharpened by profound life experiences.
Our decision was to each create a unique artist’s book with space for the other eight artists to express their views. Once a month over a period of nine months we contribute to an artist’s book, handing them off to the next artist in our circle every 30 days. We began our mother books in September 2020, and the gestation period ends nine months later, May 2021. At the end of the nine months, the books will return to their original creator filled with images, text, and objects that reveal insights into the year 2020-2021 from the hands and minds of nine mature blackwomenartists. During the ninth month each artist finalizes their book. Additionally, each month we hold fellowship meetings, both in person and virtually, to swap books, critique our process, and document the experience in a group blog. Each of us has also committed to creating at least two works of art tied to our individual studio practice and/or inspired by our fellowship in dialogue with artists’ books.
