Although the world is full of talented female artists, only 5 percent of artworks on major museum walls in the U.S. are created by women.
For as long as anyone can remember, rich white men have dominated the art world whether it be artwork in museums and galleries or job opportunities in the field. Women and artists of color have been the least acclaimed within the art world, yet there is no scantiness when it comes to talented black female artists.
With that being said, their perspective and voices are not being heard. Normally when black women were portrayed, it was through the white man's eye and didn’t truly capture the beauty, value, or black experience of a woman. Throughout this post I will discuss black female artists in today’s world defying their odds and beating statistics. Showcasing black female artists is important not only because we are already neglected; our story has been lost and retold through eyes that are not ours. Only a black woman can explain what it’s like to be a black woman.
Visual artist, Calida Rawles, relates her work to the black female identity saying, “I wanted to discuss the intersectionality of the black female experience, as well as the theory of triple consciousness, which stipulates that black women in this country view themselves through three lenses: the American experience, largely defined by white men; the female experience, generally written by white women; and the black experience, usually associated with black men. To make work, for me, is to seek a kind of spiritual healing from all of that.”
As a black woman myself, I didn’t realize I viewed myself through those lenses until I read her interview aloud.
If our voices, experiences, etc are not shared, they become lost or retold by someone who is not us. The loss of the black woman is the most tragic story of them all, yet has strong main character leads who won't stop until the job's done.
As a practicing artist myself, I related so much to the fact that it’s not about being ignored but having the agenda to make a difference and change the world rather than just have commercial success that most others strive for.
Our next influential character explores and develops work around class, race, gender, culture and nature.
The British artist, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, said, “I’m forever the only black person in a room.” The experiences and truth of Black women are hard to find within the general media and most black women artists are patronized and misunderstood by other artists in the field.
In an interview with The Guardian's Micha Frazer-Carrol, MYD was asked how she started making work that touched on race, she answered, “That’s so challenging. My experience was more micro aggressions – and in the second year of my BA I started incorporating those experiences into my work. But it was quite tiring continuously talking about race, and you would end up being compared with the other more established artists who had those conversations on lock. I stepped back and thought: ‘What are the things I am continuously talking about?’ I was in my 20s – it was dating and relationships. And race was still a part of that, because I’m a black woman talking about love.” Every black woman I’ve ever known, has experienced micro aggressions, stereotypical jokes, patronizing remarks, and the list goes on. Overcoming those barriers and using them as fuel to her fire has led MYD to having solo exhibitions, becoming a recipient of the New Contemporaries' Studio Bursary in 2018, and many other fantastic achievements.
Another artist with great achievements has been, Lubaina Himid, Turner-Prize winning British-Tanzanian artist who's work focuses on cultural history and reclaiming identities. Through the 1980's and 1990's Himid was a well known pioneer during the British Black Arts Movement. Using graphics and rich colors with symbolic meanings to eighteenth-century British historical narratives, Lubaina beckons her viewers to question the lack of people of color in art and media, as well as the consequences of colonialism in today's society.
During an interview with Allie Biswas, Lubaina Himid discusses her work during the BBAM, goals as an artist, and her first solo exhibition at The New Museum titled 'Work from Underneath' saying "Its is my intention to create artworks that examine ideas about how to invent new rules by which to live". The two talk about Himid's time as an exhibition organizer during the 1980’s, curating important shows, but my personal favorite question asked ”It was within this context that you wrote your thesis On Being a Young Black Artist in Britain Today: A Political Response to a Personal Experience, for the Royal College of Art, from which you received your MA in cultural history in 1984. You researched and interviewed black artists who had been largely ignored. How did this experience inform what you wanted to achieve as an artist?
LH: I met and interviewed young artists who were just starting out and had interesting things to say about the world. They wanted to share what they had made and meet each other. At that time, it wasn’t a case of us being ignored. True, we didn’t have access to state or private funding or gallery representation or studio space. Nor were the press interested in our exhibitions in any meaningful ways. But our agenda was broader and more far-reaching than commercial success. We each wanted to say something that could make some difference to how our cultural contribution could be recognized and developed. Meeting other artists who spoke the same political language as I did gave me the energy to try to understand better how to visually communicate with audiences who encountered the exhibitions in non-traditional settings.” As a practicing artist myself, I related so much to the fact that it’s not about being ignored but having the agenda to make a difference and change the world rather than just have commercial success that most others strive for.
Researching these few women has given lots of inspiration and fuel to my fire to develop more work that relates to my black experience and finding who I truly am as an artist. The amount of work these women and many others have done for us to be where we are has been tremendous but still more needs to be done. Black women are slowly being showcased and acknowledged more in this industry, and while that is a great step, according to a study from the Public Library of Science, "A recent survey of the permanent collections of 18 prominent U.S. art museums found that the represented artists are 87% male and 85% white." Himid mentioned earlier how the young artists she interviewed didn't have access to certain funding, locations, etc, and that has always been the case for black communities. Step one in the process of showcasing more artists of color is developing more programs for success with the proper funding to help build them up. Money controls of a lot of things and without it, people are left struggling. The battle to make a difference and a name for yourself will never be easy but I have so much confidence in women of color due to all that we have accomplished in spite of setbacks. May we continue to prosper and grow.
