Give Us a Poem
by Chanice Hughes-Greenberg
Regarding the Figure takes a close look at works of portraiture and figuration in The Studio Museum in Harlem’s permanent collection. In selecting works to write about, I was influenced by the idea of narrative, both real and imagined. In many of the works on view, we are presented with a figure and a setting—key elements for storytelling. In others the viewer is left to piece together fragments: a collection of vases, an empty office, a white line moving through a museum. Inspired by these moments, I filled in the blanks. Regarding the Figure, on view from April 20–August 6, 2017, The Studio Museum in Harlem
The Mirror (show yourself) To write about a body— its lines, valleys moments of pause continuations. The woman sees herself & not us seeing herself sees no viewer yet is viewed. Sees her features, her eyelashes her arms in action. What is a portrait besides a representation—a memory a tick on the timeline of the subject. Here. & then we move on. But she sees herself captures her lines, her moments removed from the room the landscape the audience in the gallery. A portrait in looking & learning to look she holds her own gaze holds herself reflected.
Zanele Muholi Bona, Charlottesville, 2015 The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Acquisition Committee 2015.26 Photo: Zalika Azim
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Studio Fall/Winter 2017–18