“Gazing at Gods” is a combination of essays exploring the Visual Activism and Black Aesthetics in The Black Woman is God Exhibit.
“The Black Woman is God: Assembly of Gods celebrates the Black female presence as the highest spiritual form. More than 60 intergenerational artists working in sculpture, painting, new media, and photography create new myths to challenge Eurocentric notions of God at SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco, California.
This exhibit’s theme represents the various African spirits that desire the community to send signals to to the community to claim who they are as a higher being, which is God. The exhibit is about experiencing the the community on a higher plane, transforming into multiple representations to make visible Black art, culture and spirituality.
In this assembly, Black women artists recount the varying African narratives of them as divine beings, informing the present of what appeared lost to the past. This reclaiming of the self in public becomes a revelatory space for everyone to know the contributions Black women artists have made not only to the art world but to cultures everywhere.
Co-curators Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green envision The Black Woman is God not only as an exhibition, but as a movement-building platform that explores the intersections of race and gender, dismantling racist and patriarchal notions that devalue Black women’s contributions to society. Now, in its third iteration at SOMArts, The Black Woman is God: Assembly of Gods reveals a community of Black women artists that pay homage to their complex creative practices that have influenced the world but is overlooked because of their race, class, and gender.
Activated by live performances and a community cypher at the opening reception. The Black Woman is God subverts our notions of God as a spiritual and revolutionary act.” - The Black Woman is God
