FIERCE: Black MotHERstory Project and Exhibition
“The love expressed between women is particular and powerful because we have had to love in order to live; love has been our survival." - Audre Lorde
FIERCE is passion made manifest.
FIERCE is a window into the world of Black motherhood, comprising artwork that reflects a range of voices, histories, and experiences.
FIERCE is opportunity for women to find freedom while embracing creativity.
FIERCE is movement work – building community, celebrating resiliency and strengthening social connections.
FIERCE is art designed to challenge and disrupt common narratives and enable new perspectives on identity and social location.
FIERCE, a collaborative empowerment art project, was created with Queens Village and Renegade Babe Cincinnati as a platform for Black mothers to be SEEN and HEARD. The forthcoming exhibition provides space for these women’s stories to be broadcast in a world where speaking about being a Black woman and about Black motherhood is still considered a radical act. In this forum the personal is political.
Through a series of eight guided workshops, a diverse group of Black mothers from across Cincinnati engaged in writing and sharing their stories in their own words, and creating works of narrative art reflecting on their experiences through their own eyes.
Over a three month period in Fall 2020, participants explored printmaking techniques, discovered the power of memoir, and learned to employ symbolic imagery to visually communicate their narratives.
Through this participatory art experience, the women confirmed the power of interdependency between women – coming together, sharing stories across difference, listening and valuing each other’s worth, and celebrating the redemptive power of nurturing.
Artist participants collaborated with teaching artist Jeni Jenkins of Renegade Babe Studio in the creation of written stories, artwork and audio recordings that will culminate in a powerful group exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center through the Co-Lab public education program. The exhibition will showcase screen prints of participant’s artwork, quotes from the writings, audio recordings and relief print portraits of participants.
On view in the CAC Lower Lobby Gallery
Friday March 26th—Friday April 16th 2021
44 E. 6th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
Free Admission*
*In an effort to ensure visitor safety, The CAC is observing new protocols to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and limit capacity in the galleries, specifically TIMED TICKETING. All visitors are required to sign-up for a reserved time slot. SIGN UP HERE
Three FIERCE participants assisted with writing and audio sessions. Writing assistance provided by Desirae Hosely and Teisha Murray. Audio assistance provided by singer/songwriter Adalia Boehne. Audio recordings and sound mixing provided by Antoine Franklin of Musical Elevation Studio.
Teaching artist Jeni Jenkins is a visual artist and activist invested in enabling positive social impact by extending her practice outside the studio and into the social context. Jenkins is passionate about the role of art in transforming individual lives and communities.
FIERCE is an initiative of Queens Village.
Queens Village is a supportive community of powerful Black women who come together to relax, repower and take care of ourselves and each other.
Queens Village is an initiative of Cradle Cincinnati, a collective impact organization that fights high rates of infant mortality that disproportionately affect Black women in Cincinnati and beyond. We center Black women’s voices on changing not just racial disparities in birth outcomes but also the conditions that drive inequity in maternal and infant health.
We provide a safe space for Black mothers to support and be supported by their peers, to connect, to relieve stress, to process trauma and to build a better world together for ourselves and our children.
Learn more at www.blackwomenforthewin.com.