This text was submitted as a proposal to the apexart INTL26 Open Call
The dominant image of a Black woman is one of strength. Sweat on a brow. Hand on her back to soothe its ache. In film, literature, music, and art, a Black woman's strength is applauded, studied and cited. Her attempts at care, whether self-care, community care or some combination of the two? Much less so.
HARVEST is a century in the making. From the legal segregation policies of Jim Crow to the current rise of authoritarianism in the United States, care is how Black women have survived the last 100 years. The exhibit centers care as a liberation practice, archiving 100 years of Black women's nurturance of themselves and their community.
Self-care, as buzzy as it may seem to society at large, is not a trend for Black women. It has always been a throughline in Black women's heritage, one part of our arsenal as we've endured structural inequalities. Consider Coretta Scott King on girls' trips with fellow activists Betty Shabazz and Myrlie Evers-Williams to take a break from the stress of the civil rights movement. Remember Rosa Parks attending and leading yoga classes amid her Detroit activism. Picture Toni Morrison's lush houseplants that she tended as she wrote classics like Beloved.
This exhibit leverages audio, video, photography, personal artifacts and poetry to present overarching themes of strength, resilience, care, and rest. This exhibit documents a hidden history of "Black women healing in plain sight" and expands ideas of who deserves to be well.
Four multidisciplinary artists have independently explored untold narratives of Black women's communal healing practices, covering a century of Black women's wellness.
The exhibit is anchored by a series of audio interviews of 100 Black women, aged 19-99. Snippets of these multigenerational interviews will be available through five rotary phones on display, one for each generation represented. Visitors can pick up the receiver and hear snippets from the interviews as though speaking directly with the women themselves. Select quotes from the snippets will be displayed on walls in vinyl text, drawing visitors to engage with the space.
Archival photos and artifacts (girls' trips photos, community group newsletters, etc) will be interspersed in the space, nestled in stunning contemporary floral arrangements, connecting to the theme of care as natural and full of beauty. Poet Eris Eady offers a complementary poetry series on Black women's communal healing, which connects the audio and artifacts. Visual artist Natalyn Bradshaw's collage-style journal entries document the mental and emotional weight of healing in a hostile society. Documentary photographer Talia Hodge's black and white portraiture of Black women in their homes allows visitors to imagine how the safety of their dwelling contributes to their ability to be well.
A 10-minute short film featuring Black women from the Silent Generation greets visitors as they near the exit. The exhibit concludes with a multigenerational wisdom wall, an exchange of encouraging letters between visitors.
Through first-person storytelling and documentation, HARVEST depicts how care in all its forms have been a sustaining force for generations of Black women.
The dominant image of a Black woman is one of strength. Sweat on a brow. Hand on her back to soothe its ache. In film, literature, music, and art, a Black woman's strength is applauded, studied and cited. Her attempts at care, whether self-care, community care or some combination of the two? Much less so.
HARVEST is a century in the making. From the legal segregation policies of Jim Crow to the current rise of authoritarianism in the United States, care is how Black women have survived the last 100 years. The exhibit centers care as a liberation practice, archiving 100 years of Black women's nurturance of themselves and their community.
Self-care, as buzzy as it may seem to society at large, is not a trend for Black women. It has always been a throughline in Black women's heritage, one part of our arsenal as we've endured structural inequalities. Consider Coretta Scott King on girls' trips with fellow activists Betty Shabazz and Myrlie Evers-Williams to take a break from the stress of the civil rights movement. Remember Rosa Parks attending and leading yoga classes amid her Detroit activism. Picture Toni Morrison's lush houseplants that she tended as she wrote classics like Beloved.
This exhibit leverages audio, video, photography, personal artifacts and poetry to present overarching themes of strength, resilience, care, and rest. This exhibit documents a hidden history of "Black women healing in plain sight" and expands ideas of who deserves to be well.
Four multidisciplinary artists have independently explored untold narratives of Black women's communal healing practices, covering a century of Black women's wellness.
The exhibit is anchored by a series of audio interviews of 100 Black women, aged 19-99. Snippets of these multigenerational interviews will be available through five rotary phones on display, one for each generation represented. Visitors can pick up the receiver and hear snippets from the interviews as though speaking directly with the women themselves. Select quotes from the snippets will be displayed on walls in vinyl text, drawing visitors to engage with the space.
Archival photos and artifacts (girls' trips photos, community group newsletters, etc) will be interspersed in the space, nestled in stunning contemporary floral arrangements, connecting to the theme of care as natural and full of beauty. Poet Eris Eady offers a complementary poetry series on Black women's communal healing, which connects the audio and artifacts. Visual artist Natalyn Bradshaw's collage-style journal entries document the mental and emotional weight of healing in a hostile society. Documentary photographer Talia Hodge's black and white portraiture of Black women in their homes allows visitors to imagine how the safety of their dwelling contributes to their ability to be well.
A 10-minute short film featuring Black women from the Silent Generation greets visitors as they near the exit. The exhibit concludes with a multigenerational wisdom wall, an exchange of encouraging letters between visitors.
Through first-person storytelling and documentation, HARVEST depicts how care in all its forms have been a sustaining force for generations of Black women.
Tara Pringle Jefferson is an author and journalist based in Northeast Ohio. Her work investigates the historical and generational origins of Black women's wellness practices and how it influences their emotional, mental and physical wellbeing in modern society.
apexart’s program supporters past and present include the National Endowment for the Arts, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation, the Kettering Family Foundation, the Buhl Foundation, The Martin and Rebecca Eisenberg Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Spencer Brownstone, the Kenneth A. Cowin Foundation, Epstein Teicher Philanthropies, The Greenwich Collection Ltd., William Talbott Hillman Foundation/Affirmation Arts Fund, the Fifth Floor Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Governor and administered by LMCC, funds from NYSCA Electronic Media/Film in Partnership with Wave Farm: Media Arts Assistance Fund, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.