April 1 through August 10, 2008
Organized by the Hood Museum of Art, this major traveling exhibition examines the historical roots of a charged icon in contemporary art: the black female body. Only through an exploration of the origins of black womanhood's prevalent stereotypes can we begin to shed new light on the powerful revisionism occupying contemporary artists working with these themes today. The exhibition features over one hundred sculptures, prints, postcards, photographs, paintings, textiles, and video installations presenting three separate but intersecting perspectives: the traditional African, the colonial, and the contemporary global. Together they reveal a common preoccupation with themes of ideal beauty, fertility and sexuality, maternity and motherhood, and identities and social roles and enable us to peel back the layers of social, cultural, and political realities that have influenced stereotypes of black womanhood from the nineteenth century to the present. This approach promotes a deeper understanding of the ideologies of race, gender, and sexuality that inform contemporary responses—both the viewers' and the artists'—to images of the black female body. A fully illustrated catalogue published by the Hood Museum of Art and the University of Washington Press accompanies the exhibition.
This exhibition and publication are generously funded by a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts; Hugh J. Freund '67, P'08; the William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Hall Fund; the Leon C. 1927, Charles L. 1955, and Andrew J. 1984 Greenbaum Fund; the Hanson Family Fund; and the William Chase Grant 1919 Memorial Fund.
Download the gallery guide:
Outside
(pdf)
Inside
(pdf)
Publisher's Weekly on the exhibition catalogue: "This collection of
essays is as richly insightful as it is beautifully produced. . . . The
originality of the images and interpretations make this catalogue essential to
understanding how fully clothed the unclothed body truly is." Click
here to read the full review. Click
here to order the catalogue from the Hood Museum of Art.
11 April, Friday, 4:30 PM
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
Opening Lecture and Reception
DE/SCRIBING BLACK WOMANHOOD: VISUAL NARRATIVES AND THE AFRICAN BODY
Barbara Thompson, exhibition curator and Curator of African, Oceanic, and
Native American Collections
12 April, Saturday, 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
SYMPOSIUM
9:00 AM Walk-in registration
9:30 - 9:45 AM Welcome and Opening Remarks
Barbara Thompson, Curator of African, Oceanic, and Native American
Collections
9:45 AM - 12:00 PM Critical Discourses of Black
Womanhood
STILL EMBATTLED, YET EMBOLDENED: CONTESTING BLACK FEMALE EMBODIMENTS
Deborah K. King, Associate Professor of Sociology, Dartmouth College
BEYOND ORIENTALISM: CONTEMPORARY WOMEN'S ART FROM NORTHERN AFRICA
Cynthia J. Becker, Assistant Professor of Art History, Boston University
BEYOND GENDERCENTRIC INTERPRETATIONS: IN PRAISE OF MOTHER, THE ULTIMATE
ARTIST
Oyeronke Oyewumi, Associate Professor of Sociology, Stony Brook
University
1:30 - 4:30 PM Artist's Perspectives on Black Womanhood
Joyce Scott, Baltimore
Sokari Douglas Camp, London
Hassan Musa, Domessargues, France
Roundtable discussion to follow.
This symposium is cosponsored by the Hood Museum of Art, the Fannie and
Allan Leslie Center for the Humanities at Dartmouth College, and the Allen and
Joan Bildner Endowment for Human and Intergroup Relations.
15 April, Tuesday, 12:30 PM
Second-Floor Galleries
Gallery Talk
HERITAGE, IDENTITY, AND THE BODY: WORKS BY JOYCE SCOTT, ALISON SAAR, AND RENEE
COX
Phoebe Wolfskill, Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Dartmouth College
23 and 30 April, 21 and 28 May
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
Special Film Series
Presented in conjunction with Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and
Ideologies of the African Body, the Hood will host a film series by and
about black/African women that presents an array of perspectives about black
womanhood; each film will be followed by post-screening discussions. See
individual listings in this calendar of events for details on each film.
23 April, Wednesday, 6:00 PM
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
Film
The Life and Times of Sara Baartman, directed by Zola Maseko, South
Africa, 1998, English, 53 minutes
26 April, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Introductory Tour of Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies
of the African Body
30 April, Wednesday, 6:00 PM
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
Films
Becoming a Woman in Okrika, directed by Judith Gleason and Elisa
Mereghetti, Niger, English, 27 minutes, and The Desired Number,
directed by Ngozi Onwurah, Nigeria, 1995, English subtitles, 28 minutes
7 May, Wednesday, 6:00 PM
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
Artist Lecture: RENEE COX
Cosponsored with the Allen And Joan Bildner Endowment for Human and Intergroup
Relations.
17 May, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Introductory Tour of Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies
of the African Body
20 May, Tuesday, 12:30 PM
Second-Floor Galleries
Lunchtime Gallery Talk
PERFORMING WOMEN: WOMEN AS ARTISTS AND SUBJECTS IN AFRICAN MASKED DANCE
Alexander Bortolot, Visiting Assistant Professor, Dartmouth College
21 May, Wednesday, 6:00 PM
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
Film
La noire de, directed by Ousmane Sembene, Senegal, 1965, French, 80
minutes
28 May, Wednesday, 6:00 PM
Arthur M. Loew Auditorium
Films
Forbidden Fruit, directed by Sue Maluwa Bruce, Beate Kunath, and
Yvonne Zuckmantel, Germany/Zimbabwe, 2000, English subtitles, 30 minutes, and
And Still I Rise, directed by Ngozi Onwurah, USA, 1993, English, 30
minutes.
7 June, Saturday, 2:00 PM
Special Introductory Tour of Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and
Ideologies of the African Body with exhibition curator Barbara Thompson,
Curator of African, Oceanic, and Native American Collections
