Joy can be found on the block of our girlhood memory. It sounds like ‘Miss Mary Mack,, the tap, tap, tap from the double dutch rope, and the soft scratch of chalk on the asphalt as the hopscotch squares are drawn. It feels like the wind hitting your legs as the rope whips by in time with the heartbeat. It feels like wrung out ab muscles from the laughing as you make it through the chant and your body gets the rhythm in your hands, head, and feet.. It smells like summer time, spring and now and laters (the red kind).
Joy can be found in the memories of our bodies moving to the music at that 8th grade dance full of nerves, at the house party that felt like the floor was going to fall out from under us, at the club for some birthday that has long passed. It feels and sounds like vibrations, music of a time, heartbeats, and folding fabric adjusting to the movement of bodies. It smells like sweat, alcohol and your favorite auntie’s cigarettes.
Joy can be found in the gaze looking at these future generations as we think about our ancestors. It sounds like missing Rs and Ls and lisps from the gap in the front teeth. It sounds like ‘mama’ in the middle of the night. It smells like the changes of the bodies we have ushered in this world and held in one way or another for eternity.
Joy can be found in our 40,50,60 year old Black bodies, that have been built back after being pulled apart when making way for future generations. It sounds like groans, whispers, laughter, and catching up.
Black joy is everywhere. Black joy has always been and will always be.
In Unadulterated Black Joy, a group exhibition by Black mothers and artists, Alison Croney Moses, Ekua Holmes, L’Merchie Frazier Tanya Nixon-Silberg, and Zahirah Nur Truth, we bring this joy to the front for all to see as an act of resistance self-preservation, play and the invitation to center self-care.
The one month exhibition is a culminating event of multi-year community based art making with Black mothers from 2020 to 2022, creating space for grieving, community, love, joy, and support. The artists provided works inspired by joyful memories of their own girlhood, their children’s lives, and their experiences as adults and are accompanied by video documentation of community gatherings.
May 5, 2023 through May 28, 2023
Opening Reception: Friday May 5, 2023 6-8PM
Artist Talk: Saturday May 21, 2023 2PM
Open gallery hours weekly:
Fridays 6pm - 8pm, Saturdays Noon - 5pm, Sundays Noon - 5pm