Forward: Our lives are collages of Identities. Teri Henderson
Using collage as both a medium and a metaphor, the women in Resplendent have created collaged artworks that speak to the variations of Black feminine beauty, drawing from popular culture and their own personal archives. Resplendent features the work of Marryam Moma, Heather Polk, Khaleelah I. L. Harris, Bria-Sterling Wilson and Zoë Charlton. All five of these artists were recently featured in Black Collagists: The Book. Resplendent depicts Black women in various forms, resolute, resting, at leisure, strong, soft, and in all of the works Black women are centered and in focus, reflecting the mastery of the hands that moved paper across substrate to create the works on display, a resplendent and transcendent array of Black contemporary collage artwork. The works all signal the collective consciousness of Black woman collagists and definitions of what is considered beautiful in popular culture. There is an inherent and subconscious element behind the creation of collaged works. Some invisible force, perhaps divine, perhaps just deeply within our humanity, the work of Black women collagists calls to the tradition of Black collage historically, as well as less discussed traditions like quilting and assemblage. The works in Resplendent reference Mickalene Thomas and Lorna Simpson as well as the collages of Romare Bearden. Some connections are direct, some more subconscious. The artists in Resplendent were asked to submit works that spoke to their own definitions of Black feminine beauty in their own worlds. The results are a garden of collages that are exquisite, generative, and full of depth and beauty, reflecting Black popular culture of both past and present, from old Jet Magazine advertisements to African sculpture.
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