Exhibition Gallery:
Ain't I Soft
Ain't I Soft
An exhibition by object to subject, in collaboration with HOME
AIN’T I SOFT Is a collection of humanising images of Black women, unframed from the boxes that are usually forcibly used to define their existence in a singular form. The exhibition seeks to challenge the dichotomous logic that being a Black woman cannot be polysemous. Being continuously exposed to the controlling imagery that conclusively portrays women in black skin as stoic beings often deny the space for them to exist in any other form. AIN’T I SOFT is the capturing of a small part of the bigger picture to decolonise identity. Not to play into the construct of gender expression but rather a rebellious statement that identity can be made up of a heterogeneous mixture of many definitions of self. What the exhibition hopes to evoke is the exploration of a post-humanist form of thinking that will allow humans to participate in defining themselves to the world as opposed to letting the world define them.
The term “softness” is used to build a paradoxical narrative of the strong black woman “mask”. Soft in this context is a radical title to wear that transcends the transgenerational trauma that black women are emotionally inflexible compared to their white counterparts. Softness in literal form is about fluidity, compassion and empathy. If black women are constantly a synonym for harshness and consuming anger, when do they have the entitlement to engage in any other space? These images reclaim “softness” not because black women never possessed it, instead to rekindle it. It’s about seeing themselves outside of the coloniser’s eyes and distorted narrative.
Each image is printed on regenesis chiffon, a soft and fluid renewal composition to symbolise rebirth, a change in mindset. No longer an object, waiting for the subject to recognise their existence. The lightweight fabric on which the images are printed is the paradox of black women not being what the world expects of them. The transparency of the chiffon represents the constant awareness that black people have about their bodies – through surveillance of others and internal. These intimate images are of black mothers; submitted by black women who found “softness” in the first home they ever knew, and despite the ails that faced them, these mothers found time for peace inside the war.
Listen to the audio accompaniment here
"Ain't I Soft" Audio Accompaniment
‘Rocking in the sunlight’ Opal Palmer Adisa
(reading from BLACK WOMEN HEALTH BOOK edited by Evelyn C. White, 1993)
Read by Tracy Sada @tracysoothes
A collection of music in reference to, and inspiration for I Ain't Soft, including submissions from each creative woman included within the exhibition.
Including image contributions from Krystle Amoo, Nuerki Nortey, Sydne Barnes-Wright, Velma Rosai-Makhandia, Cassi A Namoda, Ronan Mckenzie, Florence L Anderson, Tabitha Mcduffus, Gloria, Eyiwaa Agyekumhene, Martyna Nelson, Alexandria Deleon, Michelle Marshall and Nina Amoo.
Featuring furniture pieces by Modular by Mensah, and January Tamarind.
