TenderHead/Touching Grass
Date & Time: March 26, 2025 from 10:00 AM - 05:00 PM
Event Sponsors:
School of Visual Arts
Location:
Visual Arts Building- Zoller Gallery
Other Dates:
Mar
24
Mar
25
Mar
27
Mar
28
Admission Type: Free, no registration or ticket required
<em data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">TenderHead explores the intricate and shifting landscape of a mind in liminality. Between wakefulness and sleep, hypnagogia becomes a metaphor for both my lived experience as a mixed-race Black woman and my meditative process of working with clay. In a world eager to define me before I can define myself clay becomes my counterspell, a way to reclaim agency, shaping form as I shape my own narrative. The work resists categorization, embracing abstraction as a means of self-definition and inviting others to find ease in ambiguity. Personal and historical research are reimagined within a new context, leaving traces of familiarity while opening psychological pathways to new perspectives through abstraction and sensory illusion. This exhibition invites you into that space, both beautiful and unsettling, where perception bends and meaning is never fixed.
<div data-ogsc="black" data-olk-copy-source="MessageBody">"Touching Grass" explores themes of identity, healing, and renewal through the lens of personal experience. This exhibition reflects on the lasting impact of racism, self-doubt, and the complexities of navigating a mixed-race identity. Influenced by the kawaii aesthetic, my work utilizes animal sculptures to examine these challenges while offering a sense of playfulness and accessibility.<div data-ogsc="black">Through subtle gestures and carefully crafted forms, the sculptures reveal an underlying tension between vulnerability and resilience. This body of work represents a process of moving forward, acknowledging past experiences while making space for joy, connection, and self-acceptance. "Touching Grass" marks a turning point for myself—one of reflection, release, and growth.