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Bearden by Elizabeth Alexander

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About the Curator

About the Curator

“Collage, in both the flat medium as well as more abstractly in book form and as a metaphor for the creative process, is a continual cutting, pasting, and quoting of received information, much like jazz music, like the contemporary tradition of rapping, and indeed like the process of reclaiming African-American history (or of any historiography).” - Elizabeth Alexander, “The Genius of Romare Bearden”

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Heather Polk (b. 1975 Akron, OH) is a healthcare sales and marketing professional with an active art practice that fills her nights and weekends. She resides in Chicago where she relocated from Atlanta over a decade ago. She is passionate about encouraging caregivers to practice self-care and gain empowerment through creative expression. Her art practice is centered around collage and abstraction.

Beauty and imagination are important and powerful to the Black experience. My figurative work honors the beauty of Black bodies. Black imagination and creative influences are ubiquitous, whether they are credited or simply appropriated, our contributions to society are undeniable. Our bodies and the labor performed by them have literally transformed this world. My collage artwork is a modern and minimalistic affirmation of Black bodies; our beauty, our presence and the importance of taking up

About her Art C.U.R.E.S platform C.U.R.E.S. is an acronym for “Creativity Unleashed Rewards Every Soul. I believe in the power of creative expression and started Art C.U.R.E.S All as a way of encouraging others to explore creative expression as a form of self-care and stress management. Whether we are observing art, making art, collecting art or working on some creative project, the stimulation to our senses and emotions from art and creativity usually lifts our spirits, tugs at our curiosity and brings us joy. I’m partial to the potency of people creating with their own hands. Creating with our own hands is part power and part vulnerability; it’s important to realize the power in being vulnerable.

“Black fashion is Black art. Hervé Kwimo uses collage as part of his creative process as the design director of Conde Nast. Lorna Simpson photographed Rihanna and transformed her image into collaged and embodied Black art in Essence Magazine.” Teri Henderson

Bria Sterling-Wilson (b.1993 Baltimore, Maryland) is a collage artist and photographer from Baltimore, Maryland. In 2021 she earned her BFA in Photography and Digital Arts from Towson University. She uses found photographs, magazines, newspaper clippings, and fabrics to express the multifaceted aspects of the African-American diaspora and culture. Bria constructs collages addressing race, stereotypes, cultural appropriation, and beauty standards. She has exhibited in galleries in Maryland, Delaware, and New York. She most recently exhibited work at Band of Vices in Los Angeles, and Hopper House Gallery in Baltimore, MD.

Through the utilization of magazine clippings, newspaper, and fabric Sterling-Wilson recontextualizes found materials to confront how the African American man and woman is represented and perceived in society. Her collages ascribe to the multifaceted African diaspora by visually depicting cultural appropriation, race, police brutality, stereotypes, identity, and the idealized standards of beauty placed upon women of color. Sterling-Wilson believes that the representation of individuals of color has been polluted for centuries with discriminatory imagery and with her work she challenges those reactionary views and ideals with her contemporary collages.

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