Mahari Chabwera, I am fluid, I embrace my tides, Isis guide my rise, 2020, Tempered glass, cowrie, gemstone, acrylic and oil tapestry painting. Courtesy of the Artist and 1708 Gallery, photograph by David Hale.Photo courtesy of Chip Jackson.
The works inthis exhibition undo the oppressive sublimation and depression of Blackness. They radiate energy that sources and beholds the incomprehensible complexity of Black bodies, Black femininity, Black energy, Black mystery, Black celebration, Black adaptability, and the eternally creative Black reality. In this sensory and contemplative exhibition, a symbolic, vaginal-like passage protects, reveals, births, and cleanses the way for the exhibition itself. Primordial Emanations, that which is brought forth follows the womb: a surrender to her luminous blackness allows us reentry into a symbolic space of infinite creation. The birth portal must be pathed individually, rooting the inherent intention of the project to allow for a safe, socially distant viewing that will be moderated and paced organically.
—Chabwera and Myers (from exhibition text)
Hampton Boyer, Artifacts for Reflection, 2020, Oil, acrylic, paper and muslin on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and 1708 Gallery, photograph by David Hale.
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Mahari Chabwera, La Mujer Salvaje Triptych (Part 1: Dadme la muerte que me falta, Part 2: La mujer salvaje, Part 3: I can feel my wings spreading), 2020, Oil, acrylic, and fabric on canvas. Courtesy of the Artist and 1708 Gallery, photograph by David Hale.
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Primordial Emanations: that which is brought forth follows the womb: a surrender to her luminous blackness, 2020, Exhibition detail. Courtesy of the Artists and 1708 Gallery, photograph by David Hale.Primordial Emanations: that which is brought forth follows the womb: a surrender to her luminous blackness, 2020, Exhibition view. Courtesy of the Artists and 1708 Gallery, photograph by David Hale.
Quinn Foster reviews Prairie Stories: Art and Ecological Restoration on Louisiana’s Prairies, sharing the powerful connections between art, activism, nature, and storytelling at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette.
Francess Archer Dunbar reviews Diego Alejandro Waisman’s Sunset Colonies at the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum at Florida International University, Miami, which uses photography and archival materials to preserve the overlooked histories of South Florida’s mobile home communities.
