RESPLENDENT - Black Women Collagists

RESPLENDENT Women Women Collagists RES Black Women Collagists

Black women Collagists

Featuring the works of Marryam Moma Bria Sterling-Wilson Heather Polk Khaleelah I.L. Harris Zoë Charlton

Curated by Teri Henderon

RESPLENDENT

Quote from, The Romare Bearden Reader, Robert G O'Meally 6 Forward: Our lives are collages of Identities, by Teri Henderson 9 Boudoir 12 Excerpt from The Genius of Romare Bearden by Elizabeth Alexander 16 Aritst Bios 23 About the Curator 30 Index 31

“Black art has always existed. It just

hasn't been looked for in the right places."

- Romare Bearden

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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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I am grateful to have known the women who are featured in this exhibition from my work with @blackcollagists and the publication of Black Collagists: The Book. I started Black Collagists as an instagram account (@blackcollagists) in the Fall of 2020 with generous support by the Doug + Laurie Kanyer Art Collection. The mission of Black Collagists is to correct the historical record of collage and of art history which has continually underrepresented the work of Black artists. Part of that mission is fulfilled with the publication of the book in November 2021, and also with this exhibition. It was important for me to give space to Black women collage artists specifically at this time. Historically Black artists have had their contributions erased, and Black women have had their contributions erased and disrespected even more so.

I wanted to curate a show that magnified the inherent beauty in Black art created by Black women and believe that is achieved with this show. Thank you to Mehari Sequar Gallery for the opportunity to exhibit the work of these brilliant artists. And Thank you, Marryam Moma, Heather Polk, Khaleelah I. L. Harris, Bria-Sterling Wilson and Zoë Charlton for sharing your work.

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In Bria Sterling-Wilson, Boudoir, Her subject is centered, in stockings, seated in layers of fabric, collaged paper, lace curtains and wallpaper. Her head is tilted as her gaze confronts the viewer directly. Her afro is one of three hairstyles depicted in the piece, on her left a curly wig on a white dummy, and to the left, a mass of blonde waves. Her crown of tight curls is the most perfect choice to display her beauty.

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In Zoë Charlton’s works, the artist’s avatar Sib is the subject. Sib anchors each of the screen prints and in Rendition (Clouds) she is depicted clutching a castle, her beauty concretely abstract, historical and modern. She dominates the print, holding court resolutely through a sea of trees and shrubbery. Her hair in two buns piercing through blue clouds. Each of the prints features small variations, pop culture easter eggs for the viewer to discover, achieved through stickers and decoration. The screenprints were produced by printmakers Amelia Hankin and Yar Koporulin for CulturalDC.

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“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 space.

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

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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.

Khaleelah I. L. Harris (b. 1996 Palm Beach, Florida) is a mixed media collage artist. Khaleelah's research investigates the project of identity formation and self-making practices for upper/middle class Black Women of the eras guided by the post-emancipation racial uplift projects and seeks to develop cultural taxonomies through which we can better determine how this particular group of Black Women enacted beautiful experiments with their lives. Harris earned her Master of Arts in Religion from Yale University in 2021 and is currently a graduate student at Howard University. Harris is also a Du Bosian Scholar and studies African American Freethought.

Harris centers her involvement in the arts around curatorial work with visual arts exhibits that create a visual narrative for her research surrounding her research and the topics of U.S Cultural History, African-American Women's Religious Experience, AfricanAmerican Women and HBCU Formative Years; Southern Life; and Beauty & Fashion Culture. In the Fall of 2021 Harris co-curated the exhibition, Allegories, Renditions, and a Small Nation of Women at 26 Yale Divinity School with Black Collagists Founder Teri Henderson.

Marryam Moma (b.1984 Kano, Nigeria) Tanzanian-Nigerian Marryam Moma is a visual artist who holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia. Moma melds the palette of repurposed hand-cut pieces, paper, and media together into fresh, layered imagery with new associations. Deconstructing images, then re-integrating them to create something new, is an intuitive and ongoing visual experiment where color, texture, balance, shape, and space come into play.

Moma is enthralled by the creative works of Lorna Simpson, Deborah Roberts and (after a recent visit to view My Body, My Rules at The PAMM), re-discovered and fell in love with Wangechi Mutus’ collage and mixed media art. The architecture and sculptures of David Adjaye, Phil Freelon and Alexander Calder also influence her principal style and creative delivery. Moma uses collage to explore the space where spirituality, gender, race and identity, and sexuality intersect. She celebrates the human form in her work and reinforces ideas about individuality and self-love. The clarity, discipline, and execution of Momas work reflects applied strengths from a formal education in architecture.

Zoë Charlton (b. 1973) was born in Tallahassee, Florida and lives and works in Baltimore,

Maryland. Charlton received her MFA degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her BFA from Florida State University in painting and drawing. She has participated in residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and at The Creative Alliance in Baltimore, MD. Her work has been included in national and international group exhibitions including the Contemporary Art Museum (Houston, TX), the Studio Museum of Harlem (NYC, NY), the Zacheta National Gallery of Art (Warsaw, Poland), Haas & Fischer Gallery (Zurich, Switzerland), Clementine Gallery (NYC, NY) and Wendy Cooper Gallery (Chicago, IL). Charlton's work has been reviewed in ARTnews and Art in America.

Previous experiences range from being an animator for Flat Black Films in Austin, Texas to teaching positions at Missouri State University (MO) and Southwestern University (TX). She is an Associate Professor of Art at American University in Washington, DC.

Mehari Sequar Gallery is an independent art Gallery located in Washington, D.C. Founded in 2019, the Gallery is dedicated in articulating narratives of the African Diaspora by examining the world through contemporary art.

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Install Shots

With focus on women-identified artists of the diaspora, we champion a range of established, emerging and international artists who explore conceptual approaches and embrace the freedoms of artistic expressions across all mediums.

The Gallery also serves as a hub for artists and art scholars who interrogate the influence of Black art across hemispheres.

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About the Curator Teri Henderson (b.1990 Fort Worth, TX) is a Baltimore-based independent curator, a staff writer for BmoreArt, and the Founding Director of Black Collagists. Henderson holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Texas Christian University. She formerly held a curatorial internship at Ghost Gallery in Seattle, Washington.

Henderson previously served as the Art Law Clinic Director for Maryland Volunteer Lawyers For The Arts and is currently on their Board of Directors. Her written work has been seen in: BmoreArt, All SHE Makes, Artforum, Justsmile Magazine, Kinfolk Travel, and the St. James Encyclopedia of Hip Hop Culture. Teri Henderson formerly was the curator of private acquisitions of Black collage art for the Doug + Laurie Kanyer Art Collection from 2020 - 2021. Black Collagists: The Book is her first book.

All of the artists featured in Resplendent are also featured in Black Collagists: The Book. Written and curated by Teri Henderson and published by Kanyer Publishing, Black Collagists: The Book features over fifty emerging and established Black collage artists from around the world. With over 300 full color images alongside historical context and academic essays, the book establishes a physical archive of the history and the future of Black collage artists. Black Collagists: The Book does not claim to be a complete record, but rather a door that invites others into a conversation about representation in Black collage art, both historically and currently, and challenges others to expand their own research.

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Works Included in RESPLENDENT Zoë Charlton Rendition (Clouds), Screen Print with collage on paper, 30''x22'', 2020, Edition 6/20 Zoë Charlton - Rendition (Flowers), Screen Print with collage on paper, 30''x22'', 2020, Edition 10/20 Zoë Charlton - Rendition (Killearn), Screen Print with collage on paper, 30''x22'', 2020, Edition 12/20

Marryam Moma - Audacious, Hand Cut collage reconstructed with recycled and archival paper, archival glue, gold acrylic paint, dried preserved florals, ''20x20'' Marryam Moma - Break The Mold, Hand Cut collage reconstructed with recycled and archival paper, archival glue, gold acrylic paint, dried preserved florals, ''32x32''

Khaleelah I.L. Harris - War & Peonies, Card stock, book pages, magazine clippings, archival photos, 2022 Khaleelah I.L. Harris - Fire & Sinamay, Card stock, book pages, magazine clippings, archival photos, 2022

Heather Polk- I Am Evolving, Found images collaged on Archival paper with gold mica chip, 16''x20'', 2022 Heather Polk- Everywhere I go the Universe is On My Side, Found images collaged on Archival paper with gold mica chip, 16''x20'', 2022 Heather Polk- I Am On The Best Path For Myself, Found images collaged on Archival paper with gold mica chip, 16''x20'', 2022

Bria-Sterling Wilson - Boudoir, Collage, 22''x22', 2022 Bria-Sterling Wilson - While I'm Alone , Collage 20''x20'', 2022 Bria-Sterling Wilson - Devil in Red Dress, Collage, 13''x9'', 2020 Bria-Sterling Wilson - Black Woman Eating Chicken, Collage, 13''x9'', 2020

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