Boston artist Dell M. Hamilton writes that the artists in the group exhibition “#SayHerName: Watch Us WERK” at Lesley University College of Art and Design’s VanDernoot Gallery in Cambridge “are driven by one vision: a deep desire to use art in service of creating a more just society. Their rigorous practices interrogate how the construct of race informs their conceptions of selfhood, personal memory, gender, queerness, and global history.”
The exhibition, on view through April 21, is a showcase of black women artists active in New England. Hamilton, who organized the show, tells me, “We are present. We are making interesting work. We want to have a conversation with each other.”
“Because it’s Boston and New England, there are not a lot of black curators,” Hamilton told the crowd at last night’s opening reception. So she sees the exhibition as a “sort of push back” aimed at “making black art relevant.”
Poet U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo performs at the opening reception for “SayHerName: Watch Us WERK” at Lesley University College of Art and Design’s VanDernoot Gallery in Cambridge, March 29, 2018. (Greg Cook)Felicia Megginson “Ancestral Altar: Mom Through the Looking Glass,” 1994, Polaroid diffusion transfer print.L’Merchie Frazier “In Our Mother’s Garden: Women Already” 2016, nylon quilting.Ekua Holmes “Idyll of the South: Portrait of Aunt Mary Matthew 37:11 (NIV) But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity” 2016, collage on paper.Chanel Thervil “Tender” 2018 wood, acrylic, ink, yarn, paper, canvas, gold cord.Destiny Palmer “Burden Moving Forward” 2017, cotton duck canvas, digitally printed fabric, discarded fabric on wood frame with stair railing parts.Dell M. Hamilton “Wedding dress, black prom dress and blonde wig used in a performance of ‘BluesBlankBlack’ at Five Myles Gallery in Brookly, 2016, and the 808 Gallery, Boston University, 2017.”Alexandria Smith “Joy Comes in the Mornin’” 2017, photo transfer, woodblock print, Plexiglas, collage on paper.Elisa Hamilton “(Extra)ordinary Possibility,” 2018, crayon, ink, gouache and oil pastel on paper, nine pieces.Elisa Hamilton “(Extra)ordinary Possibility,” 2018, crayon, ink, gouache and oil pastel on paper, nine pieces.Tomashi Jackson “The High Yellow Pavilion: 6 Love Songs for Thurgood Marshall (History on its Head),” 2016, 32-minute video.Angela M. Counts video.Andrew Mroczek, associate director of exhibitions at Lesley University, introduces curator Dell M. Hamilton (in red coat) at the opening reception for “SayHerName: Watch Us WERK” at Lesley University College of Art and Design’s VanDernoot Gallery in Cambridge, March 29, 2018. (Greg Cook)Opening reception for “SayHerName: Watch Us WERK” at Lesley University College of Art and Design’s VanDernoot Gallery in Cambridge, March 29, 2018. (Greg Cook)
