Resting Black Face II, 2021, 124 x 142cm, recycled tights, wool yarn, cotton thread and vintage family and erotica photographs printed on tea stained recycled paper
The Empire has new clothes, a history rewritten in the Black II, 2021, 100 x 100 x 3.5cm, used tights, bamboo and cotton yarn, recycled pet thread, metallic thread and eco-friendly water based acrylic paint on used empty canvas frame
The Empire has new clothes, a history rewritten in the Black I, 2021, 90 x 100 x 2cm, used tights, wool and acrylic yarn, cotton thread and eco-friendly water based acrylic paint on used empty canvas frame
Rooted in the ancestral mother, 2021, 49.5 x 49.5 x 3.5cm, used tights, cotton thread, vintage family photographs printed on tea-stained recycled paper, acrylic yarn, eco-friendly water-based acrylic paint on used empty canvas frame
A cosmos within - the infinite black, SOURCE, 2021, 49.5 x 50 x 3.25cm, burnout used tights, recycled pet thread and eco-friendly water based acrylic paint on used empty canvas frame
Proclamation I: Sensusality arising, in those for whom it was forbidden, 2021, 63 x 83.5 x 4.5cm, recycled tights and cotton thread on vintage picture frame
Re-asserting the black feminine, 2021, 29.5 x 41.8 x 1.5cm, used tights, cotton thread and metallic thread on used empty canvas frame
Femininity and blackness: a Pointe-d dreamscape in nude, 2021, 83.5 x 100.5 x 3.5cm, recycled tights and cotton thread on vintage wood frame.
The Ascension of the Nude, 2021, 59.8 x 59.8 x 62.5cm, used burnout tights, cotton thread on handmade tulip wood pyramid frame
The Roadmap - crafting pathways to discoveries of self, 2021, 29.5 x 41.5 x 3.5cm, used tights, wool yarn on used empty canvas frame
Proclamation II: Birthing canals, passageways of the erotic, virtuous soul, 2021, 23.25 x 54 x 1.5cm, burnout recycled tights, tea stained tissue paper, vintage family and erotica photographs printed on teastained recycled paper on empty vintage picture frame
Notes on Paper, Captured Sorrow II (framed), 2021, 42 x 54 x 2cm, cotton thread, tea stained tissue paper, vintage family photographs printed on tea stained recycled paper and metallic acrylic paint on tea stained handmade recycled paper
Notes on Paper, Captured Sorrow V (framed), 2021, 42 x 54 x 2cm, used tights, cotton thread, used brown paper, tea stained tissue paper, vintage family photographs printed on tea stained recycled paper and metallic acrylic paint on tea stained handmade recycled paper
Notes on Paper, Captured Sorrow III (framed), 2021, 42 x 54 x 2cm, used tights, cotton thread, tea stained tissue paper, vintage family photographs printed on tea stained recycled paper and metallic acrylic paint, on tea stained handmade recycled paper
Notes on Paper, Captured Sorrow VI (framed), 2021, 34 x 28 x 2cm, used tights, cotton thread, used brown paper, tea stained tissue paper, vintage family photographs printed on tea stained recycled paper, metallic acrylic paint on tea stained recycled card
Notes on Paper, Captured Sorrow XI (framed), 2021, 34 x 28 x 2cm, used tights, cotton thread, tea-stained tissue paper, vintage family photographs printed on transfer paper, metallic acrylic paint, tea-stained recycled cartridge paper and tea-stained handmade recycled paper
Notes on Paper, Captured Sorrow IX (framed), 2021, 30 x 35 x 3.5cm, used tights, cotton thread, vintage family photographs printed on tea stained recycled paper, tea stained recycled card on empty vintage frame
Notes on Paper, Captured Sorrow VIII (framed), 2021, 30 x 35 x 3.5cm, used tights, cotton thread, vintage family photographs printed on tea stained recycled paper, tea stained recycled card on empty vintage frame
Nude Me/Under the Skin: A Transcendence
This series continues an exploration of black women’s femininity as it intersects with the history of the hosiery garment. However, Gbewonyo extends further into the healing work she incites in her performances whilst becoming ever more connected to personal journeys of growth in this past year. Going within, to self and the infinite space as a pathway to unravelling the mechanisms of generational trauma, rediscovering ancestral connections to the mothers and opening portals to source.
Evoked through a variety of textural works, these are pathways arrived at through performative acts of making that took place over several months. The works in, A Transcendence, Gbewonyo makes statements of action that restore the black feminine to a transcendent space far beyond the conscious being.