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Qualeasha Wood: code_anima
May 24, 2024 - September 22, 2024
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima explores identity, physical and digital boundaries, and the process of individuation through analysis of complex and socially accepted paradoxes. Defined as "an individual's true inner self," anima serves as a leitmotif in Wood’s introspective work, which examines the archetypes found within physical and digital societies. As the artist states, "This body of work draws inspiration from the concept of *deus ex machina* — a narrative device that introduces an unexpected, external force to resolve a complex situation. This device allows us to highlight the paradoxical position of Black women in society — cast simultaneously as both saviors and scapegoats within a white supremacist framework."
Wood's technical skills are evident in the digital collages of her tapestries as well as the colorful scenes of her hand-made tuftings. The materiality of these textiles (the warp and weft) are embedded with a "code," serving as a symbol for the inner workings of the dual experiences felt by Black people, particularly Black women, as well as the multifaceted online identities that mirror or oppose our physical existence.
For Wood, "code_anima delves into the complexities of identity, expectation, and erasure through the prisms of race, gender, and sexuality. This exhibition is a critical examination of the roles historically ascribed to Black women, which demand both a resolution to systemic issues and the simultaneous stripping of personal autonomy and agency."
Qualeasha Wood (b. 1996 Long Branch, New Jersey) is a textile artist whose work contemplates realities around black female embodiment that do and might exist. Inspired by a familial relationship to textiles, queer craft, Microsoft Paint, and internet avatars, Wood's tufted and tapestry pieces mesh traditional craft and contemporary technological materials. She navigates both an Internet environment saturated in Black Femme figures and culture and a political and economic environment holding that embodiment at the margins. Like the vast majority of her age-peers, Wood has operated one mortal and multiple digital avatars since pre-adolescence. For her, intuitive combinations of analog and cybernetic compositional processes make for a contemporary exploration of Black American Femme ontology.
While Wood’s tapestries blend images from social media with religious, specifically Catholic, iconography, her ‘tuftings’ represent cartoon-like figures that recall the racist caricatures widespread in popular family programs of the early-mid-20th century and beyond. The tuftings have a distinctly different visual style from the artist’s tapestry pieces. In them, Wood adopts a naïve aesthetic that calls on the nostalgia of cartoon animations and their association with racial stereotyping to unpack notions of Black girlhood. Despite their formal simplicity, the tuftings reveal a lurking tension drawn from the artist’s own experiences of consuming media rife with anti-Black prejudice throughout her life. Where the tapestries are absorbed in consumption and cyberculture, the tuftings speak to inherited trauma and necessarily implicate accountability in the viewer.
Wood has exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (New York, Los Angeles, and Somerset, UK), Kendra Jayne Patrick (New York), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, (London), Cooper Cole (Toronto), New Image Art (Los Angeles), and more. Her work is held in institutional collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as international private collections. Wood lives and works in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and is represented by Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
_____________________________________________
Located in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at Levine Center for the Arts, the Gantt is the epicenter for the best in visual, performing and literary arts reflecting the African diaspora.
www.ganttcenter.org/visit-the-gantt/
Sometimes standing up for what’s right means having the courage to blaze your own trail.
Harvey Bernard Gantt grew up in the 1940s and 50s in then-segregated Charleston, South Carolina. As the oldest child of Wilhelmina and Christopher Gantt, he often attended NAACP meetings with his father. It was there, and at the family dinner table with his four sisters, that he began to appreciate the importance of advocacy and the injustice of racial discrimination.
After graduating second in his class from Burke High School in 1960, Gantt left home to study architecture at Iowa State University. In January 1963, after a legal battle that escalated to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gantt became the first African-American student accepted at Clemson University. In September 1963, Lucinda Brawley became the first African-American woman to be admitted to Clemson and in October 1964 married Harvey. Harvey Gantt graduated with honors from Clemson in 1965, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and later a Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He moved to Charlotte after graduating from MIT, and, in 1971, co-founded Gantt Huberman Architects. A pioneer in blending urban planning with the practice of architecture, Gantt Huberman employed a diverse group of professionals who were charged with designing buildings that encourage community. As a result, the firm has developed some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, ImaginOn, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and the Johnson C. Smith University Science Center.
While significant, Gantt’s impact on the city extends beyond improving the built environment. He joined Charlotte City Council in 1974 and again broke barriers when he was elected Charlotte’s first African-American mayor in 1983. Remaining in office for two terms, Gantt stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other Charlotte leaders committed to establishing a New South City.
SouthBound Extra: A Preview Of Harvey Gantt Interview
Gantt continues to advocate for equity and equal rights and is often tapped to serve on civic, cultural, and business boards, and to lead philanthropic efforts and community initiatives. In 2009, the former Afro-American Cultural Center opened its doors to a new, award-winning facility and was renamed the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in honor of Harvey B. Gantt, an American trailblazer.
Naming The Center
When it was first proposed that this building be named after me, I hesitated. Being a man of tradition, I always felt it was more appropriate to name a building or street for someone after their passing, as a way to honor their work. Admittedly, it took some convincing by Board Chair Earl Leake and others. After much processing and discussion with my wife, Cindy, the prevailing factor that led me to say "yes" was that it was for the sake of posterity. I envisioned walking into the building with my grandchildren and had thoughts of others doing the same with future generations. I saw them talking about the sacrifices of many who made Charlotte great, and the enormous history and accomplishments of the African American community. And I remembered my parents and others who served as inspirations to me. I am forever grateful to them for being the driving force and motivation in my life.
I thought about the enormous history of the residents of the historic Second Ward community of "Brooklyn," where the Gantt Center now stands. I hope that those who have already "crossed over" can smile and feel proud knowing that we have not forgotten their sacrifices; how they nurtured, pushed and prodded young minds to strive for excellence. We are forever grateful to them. Brooklyn residents often referred to the old Myers School as the "Jacob's Ladder School." Its skyward stairway was a visible reminder of the importance of aspiring to greater things and a good education. Not just teachers, but an entire community rallied behind the youth, molding bright minds.
That's why I agreed to the naming of the building, and that's why I want you to join me in celebrating our history and the dawning of a new day for all of us. Charlotte is a great community and the Carolinas are a great region. I call this home because the city and community represent all that is symbolic to steadfastness and a "can do" attitude. While our nation and world still struggle with acknowledging and appreciating our differences, the Gantt Center can serve as a vehicle for people to come celebrate African American art, history and culture. Residents and visiting friends alike will have numerous opportunities to enjoy all aspects of Levine Center for the Arts. The Gantt Center will serve as one of the entry points to experience the arts, sporting events and many other amenities that Charlotte has to offer. Thank you for your interest in and support of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture. May this edifice always stand as a symbol that this community and nation are places where we all "belong".
By Harvey B. Gantt
Mi 70's SMC manual 50mm is my best lens for portraits. You can see the great potential of old Pentax lenses in other Flicrkpics. It's entretaining searching other pics token with them.. .)
The Crux
the stone
the heart
the hearth
the home
Blinded
In search of stars
Thereness
Nearly
Vastly invisible
unsensed, unseen
troubled and troubling
Nothing
A coat
A hood
The hooded I
Under a tallow moon.
~ A. Rimbaud
But eventually the flower became jaded and turned inward, becoming somewhat introspective. (5/12 of series "A Flower's Story")
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima
May 24, 2024 - September 22, 2024
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima explores identity, physical and digital boundaries, and the process of individuation through analysis of complex and socially accepted paradoxes. Defined as "an individual's true inner self," anima serves as a leitmotif in Wood’s introspective work, which examines the archetypes found within physical and digital societies. As the artist states, "This body of work draws inspiration from the concept of *deus ex machina* — a narrative device that introduces an unexpected, external force to resolve a complex situation. This device allows us to highlight the paradoxical position of Black women in society — cast simultaneously as both saviors and scapegoats within a white supremacist framework."
Wood's technical skills are evident in the digital collages of her tapestries as well as the colorful scenes of her hand-made tuftings. The materiality of these textiles (the warp and weft) are embedded with a "code," serving as a symbol for the inner workings of the dual experiences felt by Black people, particularly Black women, as well as the multifaceted online identities that mirror or oppose our physical existence.
For Wood, "code_anima delves into the complexities of identity, expectation, and erasure through the prisms of race, gender, and sexuality. This exhibition is a critical examination of the roles historically ascribed to Black women, which demand both a resolution to systemic issues and the simultaneous stripping of personal autonomy and agency."
Qualeasha Wood (b. 1996 Long Branch, New Jersey) is a textile artist whose work contemplates realities around black female embodiment that do and might exist. Inspired by a familial relationship to textiles, queer craft, Microsoft Paint, and internet avatars, Wood's tufted and tapestry pieces mesh traditional craft and contemporary technological materials. She navigates both an Internet environment saturated in Black Femme figures and culture and a political and economic environment holding that embodiment at the margins. Like the vast majority of her age-peers, Wood has operated one mortal and multiple digital avatars since pre-adolescence. For her, intuitive combinations of analog and cybernetic compositional processes make for a contemporary exploration of Black American Femme ontology.
While Wood’s tapestries blend images from social media with religious, specifically Catholic, iconography, her ‘tuftings’ represent cartoon-like figures that recall the racist caricatures widespread in popular family programs of the early-mid-20th century and beyond. The tuftings have a distinctly different visual style from the artist’s tapestry pieces. In them, Wood adopts a naïve aesthetic that calls on the nostalgia of cartoon animations and their association with racial stereotyping to unpack notions of Black girlhood. Despite their formal simplicity, the tuftings reveal a lurking tension drawn from the artist’s own experiences of consuming media rife with anti-Black prejudice throughout her life. Where the tapestries are absorbed in consumption and cyberculture, the tuftings speak to inherited trauma and necessarily implicate accountability in the viewer.
Wood has exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (New York, Los Angeles, and Somerset, UK), Kendra Jayne Patrick (New York), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, (London), Cooper Cole (Toronto), New Image Art (Los Angeles), and more. Her work is held in institutional collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as international private collections. Wood lives and works in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and is represented by Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
_____________________________________________
Located in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at Levine Center for the Arts, the Gantt is the epicenter for the best in visual, performing and literary arts reflecting the African diaspora.
www.ganttcenter.org/visit-the-gantt/
Sometimes standing up for what’s right means having the courage to blaze your own trail.
Harvey Bernard Gantt grew up in the 1940s and 50s in then-segregated Charleston, South Carolina. As the oldest child of Wilhelmina and Christopher Gantt, he often attended NAACP meetings with his father. It was there, and at the family dinner table with his four sisters, that he began to appreciate the importance of advocacy and the injustice of racial discrimination.
After graduating second in his class from Burke High School in 1960, Gantt left home to study architecture at Iowa State University. In January 1963, after a legal battle that escalated to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gantt became the first African-American student accepted at Clemson University. In September 1963, Lucinda Brawley became the first African-American woman to be admitted to Clemson and in October 1964 married Harvey. Harvey Gantt graduated with honors from Clemson in 1965, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and later a Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He moved to Charlotte after graduating from MIT, and, in 1971, co-founded Gantt Huberman Architects. A pioneer in blending urban planning with the practice of architecture, Gantt Huberman employed a diverse group of professionals who were charged with designing buildings that encourage community. As a result, the firm has developed some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, ImaginOn, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and the Johnson C. Smith University Science Center.
While significant, Gantt’s impact on the city extends beyond improving the built environment. He joined Charlotte City Council in 1974 and again broke barriers when he was elected Charlotte’s first African-American mayor in 1983. Remaining in office for two terms, Gantt stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other Charlotte leaders committed to establishing a New South City.
SouthBound Extra: A Preview Of Harvey Gantt Interview
Gantt continues to advocate for equity and equal rights and is often tapped to serve on civic, cultural, and business boards, and to lead philanthropic efforts and community initiatives. In 2009, the former Afro-American Cultural Center opened its doors to a new, award-winning facility and was renamed the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in honor of Harvey B. Gantt, an American trailblazer.
Naming The Center
When it was first proposed that this building be named after me, I hesitated. Being a man of tradition, I always felt it was more appropriate to name a building or street for someone after their passing, as a way to honor their work. Admittedly, it took some convincing by Board Chair Earl Leake and others. After much processing and discussion with my wife, Cindy, the prevailing factor that led me to say "yes" was that it was for the sake of posterity. I envisioned walking into the building with my grandchildren and had thoughts of others doing the same with future generations. I saw them talking about the sacrifices of many who made Charlotte great, and the enormous history and accomplishments of the African American community. And I remembered my parents and others who served as inspirations to me. I am forever grateful to them for being the driving force and motivation in my life.
I thought about the enormous history of the residents of the historic Second Ward community of "Brooklyn," where the Gantt Center now stands. I hope that those who have already "crossed over" can smile and feel proud knowing that we have not forgotten their sacrifices; how they nurtured, pushed and prodded young minds to strive for excellence. We are forever grateful to them. Brooklyn residents often referred to the old Myers School as the "Jacob's Ladder School." Its skyward stairway was a visible reminder of the importance of aspiring to greater things and a good education. Not just teachers, but an entire community rallied behind the youth, molding bright minds.
That's why I agreed to the naming of the building, and that's why I want you to join me in celebrating our history and the dawning of a new day for all of us. Charlotte is a great community and the Carolinas are a great region. I call this home because the city and community represent all that is symbolic to steadfastness and a "can do" attitude. While our nation and world still struggle with acknowledging and appreciating our differences, the Gantt Center can serve as a vehicle for people to come celebrate African American art, history and culture. Residents and visiting friends alike will have numerous opportunities to enjoy all aspects of Levine Center for the Arts. The Gantt Center will serve as one of the entry points to experience the arts, sporting events and many other amenities that Charlotte has to offer. Thank you for your interest in and support of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture. May this edifice always stand as a symbol that this community and nation are places where we all "belong".
By Harvey B. Gantt
So I don't take many photos of Marcheline, but it doesn't seem to matter since she is beautiful in all of them.
So many to explore...I see so much more of it now that I perceive it from the other side of a lens. And yes I added a green texture layer by...(will post soon)
www.roxannepantyhose.wordpress.com
Meia-calça preta com desenhos em toda a sua extensão. Alta qualidade. Apesar da aparência ela não é vazada.
Tamanho único.
Indicado para pessoas com peso entre 40 e 70 quilos e altura entre 1,55 e 1,75m
90% nylon, 10% elastano.
Fio: 30 denier
hula halau o kekuhi: an introspective of the past few decades' worth of competitive hula costume. white background shot with a 40" umbrella strobe set at 1/4 +.7 and a ceiling bounced strobe set at 1/2. white background that was color balanced and layer masked to 100% white, these images were shot 1/3 stop underexposed and pushed forward in post. a rare opportunity to document an amazing collection of competitive hula costuming!
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima
May 24, 2024 - September 22, 2024
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima explores identity, physical and digital boundaries, and the process of individuation through analysis of complex and socially accepted paradoxes. Defined as "an individual's true inner self," anima serves as a leitmotif in Wood’s introspective work, which examines the archetypes found within physical and digital societies. As the artist states, "This body of work draws inspiration from the concept of *deus ex machina* — a narrative device that introduces an unexpected, external force to resolve a complex situation. This device allows us to highlight the paradoxical position of Black women in society — cast simultaneously as both saviors and scapegoats within a white supremacist framework."
Wood's technical skills are evident in the digital collages of her tapestries as well as the colorful scenes of her hand-made tuftings. The materiality of these textiles (the warp and weft) are embedded with a "code," serving as a symbol for the inner workings of the dual experiences felt by Black people, particularly Black women, as well as the multifaceted online identities that mirror or oppose our physical existence.
For Wood, "code_anima delves into the complexities of identity, expectation, and erasure through the prisms of race, gender, and sexuality. This exhibition is a critical examination of the roles historically ascribed to Black women, which demand both a resolution to systemic issues and the simultaneous stripping of personal autonomy and agency."
Qualeasha Wood (b. 1996 Long Branch, New Jersey) is a textile artist whose work contemplates realities around black female embodiment that do and might exist. Inspired by a familial relationship to textiles, queer craft, Microsoft Paint, and internet avatars, Wood's tufted and tapestry pieces mesh traditional craft and contemporary technological materials. She navigates both an Internet environment saturated in Black Femme figures and culture and a political and economic environment holding that embodiment at the margins. Like the vast majority of her age-peers, Wood has operated one mortal and multiple digital avatars since pre-adolescence. For her, intuitive combinations of analog and cybernetic compositional processes make for a contemporary exploration of Black American Femme ontology.
While Wood’s tapestries blend images from social media with religious, specifically Catholic, iconography, her ‘tuftings’ represent cartoon-like figures that recall the racist caricatures widespread in popular family programs of the early-mid-20th century and beyond. The tuftings have a distinctly different visual style from the artist’s tapestry pieces. In them, Wood adopts a naïve aesthetic that calls on the nostalgia of cartoon animations and their association with racial stereotyping to unpack notions of Black girlhood. Despite their formal simplicity, the tuftings reveal a lurking tension drawn from the artist’s own experiences of consuming media rife with anti-Black prejudice throughout her life. Where the tapestries are absorbed in consumption and cyberculture, the tuftings speak to inherited trauma and necessarily implicate accountability in the viewer.
Wood has exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (New York, Los Angeles, and Somerset, UK), Kendra Jayne Patrick (New York), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, (London), Cooper Cole (Toronto), New Image Art (Los Angeles), and more. Her work is held in institutional collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as international private collections. Wood lives and works in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and is represented by Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
_____________________________________________
Located in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at Levine Center for the Arts, the Gantt is the epicenter for the best in visual, performing and literary arts reflecting the African diaspora.
www.ganttcenter.org/visit-the-gantt/
Sometimes standing up for what’s right means having the courage to blaze your own trail.
Harvey Bernard Gantt grew up in the 1940s and 50s in then-segregated Charleston, South Carolina. As the oldest child of Wilhelmina and Christopher Gantt, he often attended NAACP meetings with his father. It was there, and at the family dinner table with his four sisters, that he began to appreciate the importance of advocacy and the injustice of racial discrimination.
After graduating second in his class from Burke High School in 1960, Gantt left home to study architecture at Iowa State University. In January 1963, after a legal battle that escalated to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gantt became the first African-American student accepted at Clemson University. In September 1963, Lucinda Brawley became the first African-American woman to be admitted to Clemson and in October 1964 married Harvey. Harvey Gantt graduated with honors from Clemson in 1965, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and later a Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He moved to Charlotte after graduating from MIT, and, in 1971, co-founded Gantt Huberman Architects. A pioneer in blending urban planning with the practice of architecture, Gantt Huberman employed a diverse group of professionals who were charged with designing buildings that encourage community. As a result, the firm has developed some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, ImaginOn, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and the Johnson C. Smith University Science Center.
While significant, Gantt’s impact on the city extends beyond improving the built environment. He joined Charlotte City Council in 1974 and again broke barriers when he was elected Charlotte’s first African-American mayor in 1983. Remaining in office for two terms, Gantt stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other Charlotte leaders committed to establishing a New South City.
SouthBound Extra: A Preview Of Harvey Gantt Interview
Gantt continues to advocate for equity and equal rights and is often tapped to serve on civic, cultural, and business boards, and to lead philanthropic efforts and community initiatives. In 2009, the former Afro-American Cultural Center opened its doors to a new, award-winning facility and was renamed the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in honor of Harvey B. Gantt, an American trailblazer.
Naming The Center
When it was first proposed that this building be named after me, I hesitated. Being a man of tradition, I always felt it was more appropriate to name a building or street for someone after their passing, as a way to honor their work. Admittedly, it took some convincing by Board Chair Earl Leake and others. After much processing and discussion with my wife, Cindy, the prevailing factor that led me to say "yes" was that it was for the sake of posterity. I envisioned walking into the building with my grandchildren and had thoughts of others doing the same with future generations. I saw them talking about the sacrifices of many who made Charlotte great, and the enormous history and accomplishments of the African American community. And I remembered my parents and others who served as inspirations to me. I am forever grateful to them for being the driving force and motivation in my life.
I thought about the enormous history of the residents of the historic Second Ward community of "Brooklyn," where the Gantt Center now stands. I hope that those who have already "crossed over" can smile and feel proud knowing that we have not forgotten their sacrifices; how they nurtured, pushed and prodded young minds to strive for excellence. We are forever grateful to them. Brooklyn residents often referred to the old Myers School as the "Jacob's Ladder School." Its skyward stairway was a visible reminder of the importance of aspiring to greater things and a good education. Not just teachers, but an entire community rallied behind the youth, molding bright minds.
That's why I agreed to the naming of the building, and that's why I want you to join me in celebrating our history and the dawning of a new day for all of us. Charlotte is a great community and the Carolinas are a great region. I call this home because the city and community represent all that is symbolic to steadfastness and a "can do" attitude. While our nation and world still struggle with acknowledging and appreciating our differences, the Gantt Center can serve as a vehicle for people to come celebrate African American art, history and culture. Residents and visiting friends alike will have numerous opportunities to enjoy all aspects of Levine Center for the Arts. The Gantt Center will serve as one of the entry points to experience the arts, sporting events and many other amenities that Charlotte has to offer. Thank you for your interest in and support of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture. May this edifice always stand as a symbol that this community and nation are places where we all "belong".
By Harvey B. Gantt
Words are us and we are words.
Characters have shape, dimension, depth, consistence not only on a page.
We ARE the characters, and the play!
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima
May 24, 2024 - September 22, 2024
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima explores identity, physical and digital boundaries, and the process of individuation through analysis of complex and socially accepted paradoxes. Defined as "an individual's true inner self," anima serves as a leitmotif in Wood’s introspective work, which examines the archetypes found within physical and digital societies. As the artist states, "This body of work draws inspiration from the concept of *deus ex machina* — a narrative device that introduces an unexpected, external force to resolve a complex situation. This device allows us to highlight the paradoxical position of Black women in society — cast simultaneously as both saviors and scapegoats within a white supremacist framework."
Wood's technical skills are evident in the digital collages of her tapestries as well as the colorful scenes of her hand-made tuftings. The materiality of these textiles (the warp and weft) are embedded with a "code," serving as a symbol for the inner workings of the dual experiences felt by Black people, particularly Black women, as well as the multifaceted online identities that mirror or oppose our physical existence.
For Wood, "code_anima delves into the complexities of identity, expectation, and erasure through the prisms of race, gender, and sexuality. This exhibition is a critical examination of the roles historically ascribed to Black women, which demand both a resolution to systemic issues and the simultaneous stripping of personal autonomy and agency."
Qualeasha Wood (b. 1996 Long Branch, New Jersey) is a textile artist whose work contemplates realities around black female embodiment that do and might exist. Inspired by a familial relationship to textiles, queer craft, Microsoft Paint, and internet avatars, Wood's tufted and tapestry pieces mesh traditional craft and contemporary technological materials. She navigates both an Internet environment saturated in Black Femme figures and culture and a political and economic environment holding that embodiment at the margins. Like the vast majority of her age-peers, Wood has operated one mortal and multiple digital avatars since pre-adolescence. For her, intuitive combinations of analog and cybernetic compositional processes make for a contemporary exploration of Black American Femme ontology.
While Wood’s tapestries blend images from social media with religious, specifically Catholic, iconography, her ‘tuftings’ represent cartoon-like figures that recall the racist caricatures widespread in popular family programs of the early-mid-20th century and beyond. The tuftings have a distinctly different visual style from the artist’s tapestry pieces. In them, Wood adopts a naïve aesthetic that calls on the nostalgia of cartoon animations and their association with racial stereotyping to unpack notions of Black girlhood. Despite their formal simplicity, the tuftings reveal a lurking tension drawn from the artist’s own experiences of consuming media rife with anti-Black prejudice throughout her life. Where the tapestries are absorbed in consumption and cyberculture, the tuftings speak to inherited trauma and necessarily implicate accountability in the viewer.
Wood has exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (New York, Los Angeles, and Somerset, UK), Kendra Jayne Patrick (New York), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, (London), Cooper Cole (Toronto), New Image Art (Los Angeles), and more. Her work is held in institutional collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as international private collections. Wood lives and works in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and is represented by Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
_____________________________________________
Located in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at Levine Center for the Arts, the Gantt is the epicenter for the best in visual, performing and literary arts reflecting the African diaspora.
www.ganttcenter.org/visit-the-gantt/
Sometimes standing up for what’s right means having the courage to blaze your own trail.
Harvey Bernard Gantt grew up in the 1940s and 50s in then-segregated Charleston, South Carolina. As the oldest child of Wilhelmina and Christopher Gantt, he often attended NAACP meetings with his father. It was there, and at the family dinner table with his four sisters, that he began to appreciate the importance of advocacy and the injustice of racial discrimination.
After graduating second in his class from Burke High School in 1960, Gantt left home to study architecture at Iowa State University. In January 1963, after a legal battle that escalated to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gantt became the first African-American student accepted at Clemson University. In September 1963, Lucinda Brawley became the first African-American woman to be admitted to Clemson and in October 1964 married Harvey. Harvey Gantt graduated with honors from Clemson in 1965, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and later a Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He moved to Charlotte after graduating from MIT, and, in 1971, co-founded Gantt Huberman Architects. A pioneer in blending urban planning with the practice of architecture, Gantt Huberman employed a diverse group of professionals who were charged with designing buildings that encourage community. As a result, the firm has developed some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, ImaginOn, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and the Johnson C. Smith University Science Center.
While significant, Gantt’s impact on the city extends beyond improving the built environment. He joined Charlotte City Council in 1974 and again broke barriers when he was elected Charlotte’s first African-American mayor in 1983. Remaining in office for two terms, Gantt stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other Charlotte leaders committed to establishing a New South City.
SouthBound Extra: A Preview Of Harvey Gantt Interview
Gantt continues to advocate for equity and equal rights and is often tapped to serve on civic, cultural, and business boards, and to lead philanthropic efforts and community initiatives. In 2009, the former Afro-American Cultural Center opened its doors to a new, award-winning facility and was renamed the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in honor of Harvey B. Gantt, an American trailblazer.
Naming The Center
When it was first proposed that this building be named after me, I hesitated. Being a man of tradition, I always felt it was more appropriate to name a building or street for someone after their passing, as a way to honor their work. Admittedly, it took some convincing by Board Chair Earl Leake and others. After much processing and discussion with my wife, Cindy, the prevailing factor that led me to say "yes" was that it was for the sake of posterity. I envisioned walking into the building with my grandchildren and had thoughts of others doing the same with future generations. I saw them talking about the sacrifices of many who made Charlotte great, and the enormous history and accomplishments of the African American community. And I remembered my parents and others who served as inspirations to me. I am forever grateful to them for being the driving force and motivation in my life.
I thought about the enormous history of the residents of the historic Second Ward community of "Brooklyn," where the Gantt Center now stands. I hope that those who have already "crossed over" can smile and feel proud knowing that we have not forgotten their sacrifices; how they nurtured, pushed and prodded young minds to strive for excellence. We are forever grateful to them. Brooklyn residents often referred to the old Myers School as the "Jacob's Ladder School." Its skyward stairway was a visible reminder of the importance of aspiring to greater things and a good education. Not just teachers, but an entire community rallied behind the youth, molding bright minds.
That's why I agreed to the naming of the building, and that's why I want you to join me in celebrating our history and the dawning of a new day for all of us. Charlotte is a great community and the Carolinas are a great region. I call this home because the city and community represent all that is symbolic to steadfastness and a "can do" attitude. While our nation and world still struggle with acknowledging and appreciating our differences, the Gantt Center can serve as a vehicle for people to come celebrate African American art, history and culture. Residents and visiting friends alike will have numerous opportunities to enjoy all aspects of Levine Center for the Arts. The Gantt Center will serve as one of the entry points to experience the arts, sporting events and many other amenities that Charlotte has to offer. Thank you for your interest in and support of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture. May this edifice always stand as a symbol that this community and nation are places where we all "belong".
By Harvey B. Gantt
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima
May 24, 2024 - September 22, 2024
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima explores identity, physical and digital boundaries, and the process of individuation through analysis of complex and socially accepted paradoxes. Defined as "an individual's true inner self," anima serves as a leitmotif in Wood’s introspective work, which examines the archetypes found within physical and digital societies. As the artist states, "This body of work draws inspiration from the concept of *deus ex machina* — a narrative device that introduces an unexpected, external force to resolve a complex situation. This device allows us to highlight the paradoxical position of Black women in society — cast simultaneously as both saviors and scapegoats within a white supremacist framework."
Wood's technical skills are evident in the digital collages of her tapestries as well as the colorful scenes of her hand-made tuftings. The materiality of these textiles (the warp and weft) are embedded with a "code," serving as a symbol for the inner workings of the dual experiences felt by Black people, particularly Black women, as well as the multifaceted online identities that mirror or oppose our physical existence.
For Wood, "code_anima delves into the complexities of identity, expectation, and erasure through the prisms of race, gender, and sexuality. This exhibition is a critical examination of the roles historically ascribed to Black women, which demand both a resolution to systemic issues and the simultaneous stripping of personal autonomy and agency."
Qualeasha Wood (b. 1996 Long Branch, New Jersey) is a textile artist whose work contemplates realities around black female embodiment that do and might exist. Inspired by a familial relationship to textiles, queer craft, Microsoft Paint, and internet avatars, Wood's tufted and tapestry pieces mesh traditional craft and contemporary technological materials. She navigates both an Internet environment saturated in Black Femme figures and culture and a political and economic environment holding that embodiment at the margins. Like the vast majority of her age-peers, Wood has operated one mortal and multiple digital avatars since pre-adolescence. For her, intuitive combinations of analog and cybernetic compositional processes make for a contemporary exploration of Black American Femme ontology.
While Wood’s tapestries blend images from social media with religious, specifically Catholic, iconography, her ‘tuftings’ represent cartoon-like figures that recall the racist caricatures widespread in popular family programs of the early-mid-20th century and beyond. The tuftings have a distinctly different visual style from the artist’s tapestry pieces. In them, Wood adopts a naïve aesthetic that calls on the nostalgia of cartoon animations and their association with racial stereotyping to unpack notions of Black girlhood. Despite their formal simplicity, the tuftings reveal a lurking tension drawn from the artist’s own experiences of consuming media rife with anti-Black prejudice throughout her life. Where the tapestries are absorbed in consumption and cyberculture, the tuftings speak to inherited trauma and necessarily implicate accountability in the viewer.
Wood has exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (New York, Los Angeles, and Somerset, UK), Kendra Jayne Patrick (New York), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, (London), Cooper Cole (Toronto), New Image Art (Los Angeles), and more. Her work is held in institutional collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as international private collections. Wood lives and works in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and is represented by Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
_____________________________________________
Located in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at Levine Center for the Arts, the Gantt is the epicenter for the best in visual, performing and literary arts reflecting the African diaspora.
www.ganttcenter.org/visit-the-gantt/
Sometimes standing up for what’s right means having the courage to blaze your own trail.
Harvey Bernard Gantt grew up in the 1940s and 50s in then-segregated Charleston, South Carolina. As the oldest child of Wilhelmina and Christopher Gantt, he often attended NAACP meetings with his father. It was there, and at the family dinner table with his four sisters, that he began to appreciate the importance of advocacy and the injustice of racial discrimination.
After graduating second in his class from Burke High School in 1960, Gantt left home to study architecture at Iowa State University. In January 1963, after a legal battle that escalated to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gantt became the first African-American student accepted at Clemson University. In September 1963, Lucinda Brawley became the first African-American woman to be admitted to Clemson and in October 1964 married Harvey. Harvey Gantt graduated with honors from Clemson in 1965, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and later a Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He moved to Charlotte after graduating from MIT, and, in 1971, co-founded Gantt Huberman Architects. A pioneer in blending urban planning with the practice of architecture, Gantt Huberman employed a diverse group of professionals who were charged with designing buildings that encourage community. As a result, the firm has developed some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, ImaginOn, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and the Johnson C. Smith University Science Center.
While significant, Gantt’s impact on the city extends beyond improving the built environment. He joined Charlotte City Council in 1974 and again broke barriers when he was elected Charlotte’s first African-American mayor in 1983. Remaining in office for two terms, Gantt stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other Charlotte leaders committed to establishing a New South City.
SouthBound Extra: A Preview Of Harvey Gantt Interview
Gantt continues to advocate for equity and equal rights and is often tapped to serve on civic, cultural, and business boards, and to lead philanthropic efforts and community initiatives. In 2009, the former Afro-American Cultural Center opened its doors to a new, award-winning facility and was renamed the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in honor of Harvey B. Gantt, an American trailblazer.
Naming The Center
When it was first proposed that this building be named after me, I hesitated. Being a man of tradition, I always felt it was more appropriate to name a building or street for someone after their passing, as a way to honor their work. Admittedly, it took some convincing by Board Chair Earl Leake and others. After much processing and discussion with my wife, Cindy, the prevailing factor that led me to say "yes" was that it was for the sake of posterity. I envisioned walking into the building with my grandchildren and had thoughts of others doing the same with future generations. I saw them talking about the sacrifices of many who made Charlotte great, and the enormous history and accomplishments of the African American community. And I remembered my parents and others who served as inspirations to me. I am forever grateful to them for being the driving force and motivation in my life.
I thought about the enormous history of the residents of the historic Second Ward community of "Brooklyn," where the Gantt Center now stands. I hope that those who have already "crossed over" can smile and feel proud knowing that we have not forgotten their sacrifices; how they nurtured, pushed and prodded young minds to strive for excellence. We are forever grateful to them. Brooklyn residents often referred to the old Myers School as the "Jacob's Ladder School." Its skyward stairway was a visible reminder of the importance of aspiring to greater things and a good education. Not just teachers, but an entire community rallied behind the youth, molding bright minds.
That's why I agreed to the naming of the building, and that's why I want you to join me in celebrating our history and the dawning of a new day for all of us. Charlotte is a great community and the Carolinas are a great region. I call this home because the city and community represent all that is symbolic to steadfastness and a "can do" attitude. While our nation and world still struggle with acknowledging and appreciating our differences, the Gantt Center can serve as a vehicle for people to come celebrate African American art, history and culture. Residents and visiting friends alike will have numerous opportunities to enjoy all aspects of Levine Center for the Arts. The Gantt Center will serve as one of the entry points to experience the arts, sporting events and many other amenities that Charlotte has to offer. Thank you for your interest in and support of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture. May this edifice always stand as a symbol that this community and nation are places where we all "belong".
By Harvey B. Gantt
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima
May 24, 2024 - September 22, 2024
Qualeasha Wood: code_anima explores identity, physical and digital boundaries, and the process of individuation through analysis of complex and socially accepted paradoxes. Defined as "an individual's true inner self," anima serves as a leitmotif in Wood’s introspective work, which examines the archetypes found within physical and digital societies. As the artist states, "This body of work draws inspiration from the concept of *deus ex machina* — a narrative device that introduces an unexpected, external force to resolve a complex situation. This device allows us to highlight the paradoxical position of Black women in society — cast simultaneously as both saviors and scapegoats within a white supremacist framework."
Wood's technical skills are evident in the digital collages of her tapestries as well as the colorful scenes of her hand-made tuftings. The materiality of these textiles (the warp and weft) are embedded with a "code," serving as a symbol for the inner workings of the dual experiences felt by Black people, particularly Black women, as well as the multifaceted online identities that mirror or oppose our physical existence.
For Wood, "code_anima delves into the complexities of identity, expectation, and erasure through the prisms of race, gender, and sexuality. This exhibition is a critical examination of the roles historically ascribed to Black women, which demand both a resolution to systemic issues and the simultaneous stripping of personal autonomy and agency."
Qualeasha Wood (b. 1996 Long Branch, New Jersey) is a textile artist whose work contemplates realities around black female embodiment that do and might exist. Inspired by a familial relationship to textiles, queer craft, Microsoft Paint, and internet avatars, Wood's tufted and tapestry pieces mesh traditional craft and contemporary technological materials. She navigates both an Internet environment saturated in Black Femme figures and culture and a political and economic environment holding that embodiment at the margins. Like the vast majority of her age-peers, Wood has operated one mortal and multiple digital avatars since pre-adolescence. For her, intuitive combinations of analog and cybernetic compositional processes make for a contemporary exploration of Black American Femme ontology.
While Wood’s tapestries blend images from social media with religious, specifically Catholic, iconography, her ‘tuftings’ represent cartoon-like figures that recall the racist caricatures widespread in popular family programs of the early-mid-20th century and beyond. The tuftings have a distinctly different visual style from the artist’s tapestry pieces. In them, Wood adopts a naïve aesthetic that calls on the nostalgia of cartoon animations and their association with racial stereotyping to unpack notions of Black girlhood. Despite their formal simplicity, the tuftings reveal a lurking tension drawn from the artist’s own experiences of consuming media rife with anti-Black prejudice throughout her life. Where the tapestries are absorbed in consumption and cyberculture, the tuftings speak to inherited trauma and necessarily implicate accountability in the viewer.
Wood has exhibited at The Art Institute of Chicago, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Hauser and Wirth (New York, Los Angeles, and Somerset, UK), Kendra Jayne Patrick (New York), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, (London), Cooper Cole (Toronto), New Image Art (Los Angeles), and more. Her work is held in institutional collections, such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as international private collections. Wood lives and works in Brooklyn and Philadelphia, and is represented by Gallery Kendra Jayne Patrick and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
_____________________________________________
Located in the heart of Uptown Charlotte at Levine Center for the Arts, the Gantt is the epicenter for the best in visual, performing and literary arts reflecting the African diaspora.
www.ganttcenter.org/visit-the-gantt/
Sometimes standing up for what’s right means having the courage to blaze your own trail.
Harvey Bernard Gantt grew up in the 1940s and 50s in then-segregated Charleston, South Carolina. As the oldest child of Wilhelmina and Christopher Gantt, he often attended NAACP meetings with his father. It was there, and at the family dinner table with his four sisters, that he began to appreciate the importance of advocacy and the injustice of racial discrimination.
After graduating second in his class from Burke High School in 1960, Gantt left home to study architecture at Iowa State University. In January 1963, after a legal battle that escalated to the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gantt became the first African-American student accepted at Clemson University. In September 1963, Lucinda Brawley became the first African-American woman to be admitted to Clemson and in October 1964 married Harvey. Harvey Gantt graduated with honors from Clemson in 1965, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and later a Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He moved to Charlotte after graduating from MIT, and, in 1971, co-founded Gantt Huberman Architects. A pioneer in blending urban planning with the practice of architecture, Gantt Huberman employed a diverse group of professionals who were charged with designing buildings that encourage community. As a result, the firm has developed some of the city’s most iconic landmarks, including the Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, ImaginOn, Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, and the Johnson C. Smith University Science Center.
While significant, Gantt’s impact on the city extends beyond improving the built environment. He joined Charlotte City Council in 1974 and again broke barriers when he was elected Charlotte’s first African-American mayor in 1983. Remaining in office for two terms, Gantt stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other Charlotte leaders committed to establishing a New South City.
SouthBound Extra: A Preview Of Harvey Gantt Interview
Gantt continues to advocate for equity and equal rights and is often tapped to serve on civic, cultural, and business boards, and to lead philanthropic efforts and community initiatives. In 2009, the former Afro-American Cultural Center opened its doors to a new, award-winning facility and was renamed the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture in honor of Harvey B. Gantt, an American trailblazer.
Naming The Center
When it was first proposed that this building be named after me, I hesitated. Being a man of tradition, I always felt it was more appropriate to name a building or street for someone after their passing, as a way to honor their work. Admittedly, it took some convincing by Board Chair Earl Leake and others. After much processing and discussion with my wife, Cindy, the prevailing factor that led me to say "yes" was that it was for the sake of posterity. I envisioned walking into the building with my grandchildren and had thoughts of others doing the same with future generations. I saw them talking about the sacrifices of many who made Charlotte great, and the enormous history and accomplishments of the African American community. And I remembered my parents and others who served as inspirations to me. I am forever grateful to them for being the driving force and motivation in my life.
I thought about the enormous history of the residents of the historic Second Ward community of "Brooklyn," where the Gantt Center now stands. I hope that those who have already "crossed over" can smile and feel proud knowing that we have not forgotten their sacrifices; how they nurtured, pushed and prodded young minds to strive for excellence. We are forever grateful to them. Brooklyn residents often referred to the old Myers School as the "Jacob's Ladder School." Its skyward stairway was a visible reminder of the importance of aspiring to greater things and a good education. Not just teachers, but an entire community rallied behind the youth, molding bright minds.
That's why I agreed to the naming of the building, and that's why I want you to join me in celebrating our history and the dawning of a new day for all of us. Charlotte is a great community and the Carolinas are a great region. I call this home because the city and community represent all that is symbolic to steadfastness and a "can do" attitude. While our nation and world still struggle with acknowledging and appreciating our differences, the Gantt Center can serve as a vehicle for people to come celebrate African American art, history and culture. Residents and visiting friends alike will have numerous opportunities to enjoy all aspects of Levine Center for the Arts. The Gantt Center will serve as one of the entry points to experience the arts, sporting events and many other amenities that Charlotte has to offer. Thank you for your interest in and support of the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture. May this edifice always stand as a symbol that this community and nation are places where we all "belong".
By Harvey B. Gantt