Shifting: African American Women Artists and the Power of Their Gaze

The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland, College Park is proud to announce its spring exhibition, Shifting: African American Women Artists and the Power of Their Gaze. For years, a woman’s place in most societies has been defined first and foremost by her gender. As noted by the French scholar Simone de Beauvoir, women are defined as “the other” while men are defined as “the one”; to belong to “the others” or “the one” is evident through sight. According to the British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, who wrote extensively on the subject of the “Male Gaze,” women are always the objects of the gaze, never the possessors of the gaze. Shifting explores how African American female artists turn their gaze on the world around them, as well as on themselves and on other women. Not attempting to provide one answer, this exhibition serves as a platform for creating a dialogue around the questions: Whose gaze is it? Is the male gaze also the female gaze? Are women looking at themselves through the male gaze? Shifting features art made by African American women asserting their own artistic authority and, in many ways, reshaping and redefining the art world and culture at large. “Gaze” has a wide range of possible meanings. There is the conventional, “steady intense look;” but we cannot escape the broader implication of “the Gaze” when we examine its self-defining authority and power. This exhibition and scholarly discussion will highlight the major theoretical and aesthetic shifts that have occurred in the art making strategies of female artists, particularly the African American artists and how those shifts of self-authority have empowered them to direct their “gaze” upon the world. The Driskell Center believes it is timely and critically important to establish a series of national dialogs around dynamics of race and cultural pride, womanhood, and femininity as critical elements of a national artistic vision. The exhibition, organized by the Driskell Center, is curated by the David C. Driskell Center’s Executive Director, Professor Curlee R. Holton, assisted by Deputy Director, Dorit Yaron. Shifting: African American Women Artists and the Power of Their Gaze showcases the works of nearly 40 well-known and emerging African American female artists who use a wide range of media, including prints, photography, paintings, and videos. The list of artists includes: Ahuja, Mequitta Amos, Emma Booker, Chakaia Bright, Sheila Pree Brown, Iona Rozeal Browning, Jillian Marie Catlett, Elizabeth Charlton, Zoë Cox, Renée Edison, Diane Faustine, Nona Fuller, Meta Warrick Holder, Robin Humphrey, Margo Ingersol, Tonya Jackson, Stefanie Jones, Loïs Mailou Lewis, Samella Long, Christina Lovelace O'Neal, Mary Martin, Delita McIver, Beverly Monroe, Janine (formerly J. Jackson) Pickett, Janet Richmond-Edwards, Jamea Ringgold, Faith Roberts, Lucille D. Malkia Robinson, Aminah Brenda Lynn Saar, Alison Saar, Betye Sherald, Amy Simmons, Xaviera Sligh, Clarissa T. Stout, Renée Thomas, Mickalene Walker, Kara Weems, Carrie Mae Willis, Deborah . www.driskellcenterThe {{B:David C. Driskell Center honors the legacy of David C. Driskell—Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Art, Artist, Art Historian, Collector, Curator, and Philanthropist—by preserving the rich heritage of African American visual art and culture. The Driskell Center is committed to preserving, documenting, and presenting African American art, as well as replenishing and expanding the field of African American art. All programs at the David C. Driskell Center are free and open to the public. The facility is wheelchair accessible. For further information regarding exhibitions and activities at the Driskell Center, please call 301.314.2615 or visit www.driskellcenter.umd.edu. The Driskell Center’s programing is supported by a grant from the Maryland State Arts Council.}} The {{B:Driskell Center Gallery’s hours are Monday through Friday from 11AM to 4PM with extended hours on Wednesday until 6PM. The Driskell Center Gallery will additionally be open on the following Saturdays: March 11th, April 8th (Slow Art Day), April 29th (Maryland Day), and May 13th from 11AM to 4PM. The Driskell Center observes all University of Maryland closings due to inclement weather and holidays. The Driskell Center Gallery will be closed for the University of Maryland's Spring Break, March 19 - 26, 2017.}}