The Black Woman Is God is a recurring group exhibition of Black women artists curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green, which started in 2013 and in 2016 and 2017 has been located at the San Francisco city-owned nonprofit art space
SOMArts. The exhibitions challenge a popular western mindset of
God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
as a white male and instead explores new images showing "The Black Woman is God".
History
2013 Exhibition at the African American Art & Culture Complex
The first iteration of The Black Woman is God was intended as a solo exhibition for Seneferu, curated by Green, at the African American Art & Culture Complex. Seneferu agreed to participate in the exhibition only if other black female artists were included. The exhibition included 20 visual and performance artists. The opening reception also included a performing arts show as part of the exhibition and was called "vibrant and magnificent".
2014 Exhibition
The 2014 exhibition was held at the
San Francisco Public Library
The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as '' Library Journals ...
in the African American Center from March 1 to May 15, 2014.
2016 Exhibition
The next expanded exhibition, The Black Woman is God: Reprogramming that God Code, opened with 60 artists on July 7, 2016, and ran through August 17, 2016 at SOMArts.
Art critics called it as "timely", "organic", and "vivid". Sheila Bapat of ''
Bitch
Bitch may refer to:
* A female dog or other canine
* Bitch (slang), a vulgar slur for a human female
Bitch or bitches may also refer to:
Arts and media Film and television
* ''The Bitch'' (film), a 1979 film starring Joan Collins
* ''Bitc ...
'' wrote "The exhibit intentionally turns the historic devaluation of Black women and their contributions—social, political, economical—on its head. This exhibit asserts Black women’s power and beauty and does not seek to devalue any other group in the process..... It applies pressure to the beliefs and values undergirding the laws and policies that exclude Black women’s lives from economic policymaking and their labor from economic value and protection."
2017 Exhibition
The next exhibition, The Black Woman is God: Divine Revolution, also curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green, returned to SOMArts on July 20, 2017, and ran through August 26, 2017. The exhibition had the work of 80 artists on view. SOMArts, the
California Digital Library
The California Digital Library (CDL) was founded by the University of California in 1997. Under the leadership of then UC President Richard C. Atkinson, the CDL's original mission was to forge a better system for scholarly information management a ...
and
Art Practical held a
Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon on July 22 in conjunction with the exhibition "to raise the online visibility of Black women artists and challenge the gaps in art history that erase or minimize Black women’s contributions as artists, activists and social change-makers."
2018 Exhibition
The 2018 exhibit, “The Black Woman is God: Assembly of Gods”, was held in both San Francisco and Oakland. It had over 80 intergenerational black women artists.
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Woman is God
Art exhibitions in the United States
Contemporary art exhibitions
American feminist artists