Have you or your loved ones been craving a trip to the local art museum? Well if you have, BSB’s first ever online art exhibit titled Here We Are opens tomorrow (May 15th) at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.
Here We Are will explore gender, race and identity through mixed media, collage and portraiture. Most of the featured artists focus on the facets that affect them as African American women such as the diaspora, family history, trauma, the need to hide, the desire to be seen and how this impacts their own individual identities.
Participating artists include Layo Bright, Beverly McCuthceon, Komikka Patton, Josie Love Roebuck and Theda Sandiford. The exhibition title was inspired by the first black female artist collective formed in 1971, Where We At?” This collective was created in response to African American Women being treated unfairly by the art world, specific galleries and museums across the nation.
While this may still be a problem today, the BSB website states that some progress has been made over the years through more diverse museum acquisitions, higher market values and better gallery representation.
Bright (one of the artists featured above) said “In my most recent works, I’m interested in delineating the lines that form my identity as an African woman and a migrant working in the US. The lines are evident in the materials I use and how I structure my sculptures: the facial lines/scarification pertaining to my identity as a Yoruba (tribe) woman from Ife (Nigeria), and the lines on the bags pertaining to migrant journeys, borders, and mapping in my mind.”
With a plethora of culture, empowerment and artistic expression being put on display, this exhibit will surely convey many different emotions. Stories derived from the hardships of each of the featured artists will be shown to the masses in the hopes that their underlying message will reach out and impact those who view them.
For more information relating to the BSB Gallery and the Here We Are exhibit itself please visit their website at https://www.bsbgallery.com.
