Sight. There is power in looking seeing.
In this body of work, I challenge the canons of iconic stereotypes relating to perceptions about black women through the lens of the oppositional gaze. There are six paintings. Created in pairs, each of the paintings represents a historical and contemporary depiction of a common stereotype - Mammy, Jezebel, and Sapphire. The images stare at one another, and their inherited perceptions, through the power of looking/seeing. An action coined by theorist bell hooks as the oppositional gaze. Using visual cues I reference each of the stereotypes such as Mammy’s headscarf, Sapphire’s confrontational pose and Jezebel’s allure, each function as identifiers that connect the portraits and their lineage.
GENERAL ARTIST STATEMENT (last updated December 2018)
In my paintings and installations, I examine contemporary spectatorship and the power of language as it relates to perceptions of and about black women, through the lens of the oppositional gaze. Author, bell hooks, described the oppositional gaze as an “overwhelming longing to look, a rebellious desire”. In my artwork, the figures stare back, intentionally, in an effort to challenge perceptions. In doing so, the figures become the spectator as opposed to the spectacle. They are not just objects meant to be seen but serve as active “seers”. They see the viewer and they see one another. The paintings are often displayed in familiar but uncomfortable environments. This allows the viewer to experience the way in which black women (and other people of color) navigate the world around them and illustrates how language has been used against us. The paintings and installations honor our human-ness, independent of historical perception and contemporary assumptions, and encourage empathy through connection.
