“Le Dejeuner sur l’herbe: Les Trois Femmes Noires,” Mickalene Thomas.

via Mickalene Thomas- Le Dejeuner - Art Nerd New York 

New York-based artist Mickalene Thomas.

Thomas introduces a complex vision of what it means to be a woman and expands common definitions of beauty. Her work stems from her long study of art history and the classical genres of portraiture, landscape, and still life. Inspired by various sources that range from the 19th century Hudson River School to Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse and Romare Bearden, she continues to explore notions of beauty from a contemporary perspective infused with the more recent influences of popular culture and Pop Art. via Mickalene Thomas

(via Michael Stevenson)

Zanele Muholi Apinda Mpako and Ayanda Magudulela, Parktown, Johannesburg 2007

Katlego Mashiloane and Nosipho Lavuta, Ext. 2, Lakeside, Johannesburg 2007 

From the Being exhibition, 2007 Zanele Muholi. Artist statement:

Being is an exploration of both our existence and our resistance as lesbians/women loving women, as black women living our intersecting identities in a country that claims equality for all within the LGBTI community, and beyond. The work is aimed at erasing the very stigmatisation of our sexualities as ‘unAfrican’, even as our very existence disrupts dominant (hetero)sexualities, patriarchies and oppressions that were not of our own making.

Since slavery and colonialism, images of us African women have been used to reproduce heterosexuality and white patriarchy, and these systems of power have so organised our everyday lives that it is difficult to visualise ourselves as we actually are in our respective communities. Moreover, the images we see rely on binaries that were long prescribed for us (hetero/homo, male/female, African/unAfrican). From birth on, we are taught to internalise their existences, sometimes forgetting that if bodies are connected, connecting, the sensuousness goes beyond simplistic understandings of gender and sexuality.

Despite the fact that, in contrast to most other African states, our South African Bill of Rights guarantees us legal protections against homophobia, there are still no loving, intimate photographs of black lesbians. As a visual artist, one is always confronted with the politics of representation. I have the choice to portray my community in a manner that will turn us once again into a commodity to be consumed by the outside world, or to create a body of meaning that is welcomed by us as a community of queer black women.

I choose the latter path, because it is through capturing the visual pleasures and erotica of my community that our being comes into focus, into community and national consciousness. And it is through seeing ourselves as we find love, laughter, joy that we can sustain our strength and regain our sanity as we move into a future that is sadly still filled with the threat of insecurities - HIV/AIDS, hate crimes, violence against women, poverty, unemployment.

In the past year, I have lost two of my friends to AIDS-related illnesses (one in April 2006 and the other in March 2007). Both of these women made herstory within the lesbian community, but because of resource politics, their stories are not publicly celebrated.

Consequently, an aspect of these images is to create awareness around how we as lesbians need to take precautions when we engage sexually with other women. Researchers routinely perpetuate the wrong notion that we are less at risk for infection and transmission because we do not sleep with men. But the reality is that our fellow sistahs are raped and killed in this country every day. I wanted to capture photographs of ‘my people’ before we are no more. Being is part of an ongoing journey to interrogate the construction of our sexualities and selves, and then to deconstruct ourselves, identity by painfully-earned identity, in order to see the parts that make up our whole.

via Michael Stevenson gallery

Whole exhibition at linked gallery, some NSFW.

(via Gladys Bentley) a better pic.

selahvibe:

With Consume (2011), I’m exploring ideas of beauty, feminism vs. anti-feminism, and sexuality. I was looking at a lot of Marilyn Minter’s work recently and got inspired to do a mouth closeup of my own.

By Selah Vibe [artists profile here]

Women’s Hair in the works of Michael D. Harris By A. M. Weaver

[image: ‘Rootscape’ by Michael D. Harris]

Upon examining Michael D. Harris’ works, I realized they were like pages from a memoir. His imagery is analytic and sleek in design, yet there is a quality of sentiment about them. Harris watching his girls grow-up realized treatment of their hair marked the transition of years. His observations of women in particular and their hair are pivotal aspects to the oeuvre presented in his exhibition, Equal Rites. A presentation delineating rights of passage, civil rights and rituals that mark a transition and a specific point of time in a life.

Race matters in Harris’ works as he explores the various hues of blackness in What Are You?: For Colored Girls Who Are Cornered, 2008. The Blackberry, 2008 portrait takes a racialized epithet about color and explores its ramifications in sequential filtered images of a dark girl’s smile. It is obvious that color is an issue even in 2011. Harris is caught between worlds here trying to mitigate the color line within the black community. “What are you…” raises the question of origin or hue in its diversity—Atlantan; Ethiopian; Brazilian; Irish African American; Californian; Jamaican, Scotch, Puerto Rican; African American” , while Blackberry singles out the adage “ Blacker the berry….” that is all too well known and may reinforce the stereotype associated with darker women.

The article goes on to discuss the beauty stigma against WOC based on colourism and racist stereotypes, that are recurring themes in Harris’ works. 

via AfricanColours - Race Matters, Equal Rites and Women’s Hair in the works of Michael D. Harris

sophiawallace:

Thank you for the lovely post genderqueer and everyone how Voted for me. You made my day.

Portrait from Sophia Wallace’s series “On Beauty”.

According to the project description, Wallace “…was curious to see what the result would be if [she] photographed men using the unspoken rules that dictate the way women are conventionally posed in photographs and paintings.”

You can vote for Sophia Wallace’s work at the ArtTakesLondon competition (no registration of any kind is necessary). *You can vote every 24 hours.

[Image description: photo of a light-skinned, short haired young man, taken from slightly above, showing his head and upper torso. He is wearing only a black, see-through sweater which merges against the black backdrop. He is gazing towards one side. He holds his arms against his body; one hand is placed on his stomach and the other on his neck, holding the sweater against his body, although part of his shoulders and chest are bared.]

quelowat:

Street art by Swoon

(via atapestryofdisasters-deactivate)

ArtSlant - Pinar Yolacan Rackroom

Pinar Yolaçan:  I think that I do reverse the tradition of making portraits of the religious icons or people of certain classes such as the women in Brazil, whom are considered a minority, the Afro-Brazilian Bahianas.

Obviously one of the main reasons why I named the project “Maria” is because many of my subjects do have the name of Maria, and it is a sign of their inherited Christianity. Yet none of them looked like the classical depictions of “Maria” - nor like contemporary culture icons like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan, whom I think are much adored today with their stories of youth, sin, sacrifice, suffering, beauty and child bearing, which is essentially reflecting modern versions of Maria’s much celebrated story. We see more and more women like them in popular magazines today in a society governed by the right wing with Catholic traditions, and in 2008 we live like we are in the Victorian Era or the 1950’s.

Vegan alarm warning: this series is totally disturbing but awesome.

Yolacan found her subjects in regions historically associated with slave trades, then photographed them in gowns that implied aristocratic status despite being made from the body parts of livestock.

Portraiture that embraces and perverts that genres traditional emphasis on beauty and emulating social status - without being all Damien Hirst about it - equals win. 

curate:

thegang:

This artwork is part of an artist spotlight interview with 2009 Deadly Art Award winner Bindi Cole for her series Sistagirls, a collection of stylized portraits of a community of Aboriginal transgender women from the Tiwi Islands.

From an article about the project:

A half hour flight north of Darwin, the two islands that make up Tiwi (Melville and Bathurst) are better known for producing AFL footballers. The islands are home to a strong Indigenous community of around 2000 people. It’s also very Catholic. This is why it comes as some surprise that the community includes about 50 Indigenous transgender women. They call themselves the Sistagirls and like many women, dream of romance and finding a good man.

Bindi Cole, a Wathaurung artist based in Melbourne, first brought the Sistagirls to our attention last year when she won the Deadly Art Award, part of the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards, with her photo of Ajay, one of the Sistagirls. Cole says that she felt a real affinity with the people and the place. Tiwi are stunning tropical islands where alcohol and pornography are banned but the traditional language and culture is alive and well. Cole was so inspired by the Sistagirls that she began an ambitious photographic series in an outdoor tableau-style that would celebrate the strength of these unique women.

Many of the Sistagirls welcomed the opportunity to dress up for the cameras, but Cole admits there were also some cultural problems to get past first. ‘It’s still not acceptable to be gay in Tiwi and while these women identify as being Sistagirls, there can still be a stigma attached,’ she explains. ‘I feel very sensitive about producing these works, they are celebratory but you need to be very careful with people’s sexuality and Indigenous culture, especially with remote communities where there can still be that fear of outside influences,’ Cole explains.

Like the transgender communities in the South Pacific, the Fa’afafine of Somoa, many indigenous communities are often more willing to accept transgender people than gay people. Cole explains that there are few openly gay men on the Tiwi Islands but the Sistagirls are a vibrant part of the community and over time have become accepted. Cole excitedly tells the story of Crystal, the loud and proud Aunty of the Sistagirls. Crystal has devoted herself to educating the community, while encouraging her friends to be strong. They need to be. Crystal has lost Sistagirls to suicide in the past, giving her even more determination to work in gaining broader acceptance.

In preparation for her latest exhibition, Cole invited Jirra Lulla Harvey, a young indigenous writer to go with her to meet the Sistagirls and write a piece for the catalogue. Harvey reveals her surprise at meeting these ‘inspirational women’ but points out that ‘sitting, yarning with the Sistagirls was like gossiping with any of my girlfriends, because there is one topic that cuts across all borders: a good man is hard to find.’

Cole was careful about her choreography for the photo sessions. Each of the Sistagirls was professionally made-up and styled by Jason de Santis and each photo shoot took place in a different part of the island, making the natural beauty of the islands a subject in its own right. A selection of local Tiwi paintings, sculptures and artifacts was also loaned from the local museum and used within each image in a way that would create stories around the women—visually connecting them to the place through the stories inherent in the works, and thereby creating a contemporary story that could reach outsiders.

‘I want to make sure that these works respect the local traditions but also allow the Sistagirls to celebrate themselves,’ Cole explains. ‘There are also those connotations around the tableau photograph—those artificial studio postcards from the Victorian era that were so popular at the time but were really degrading to Indigenous people. I feel responsible for all those things in my work and so I feel very protective of my Sistagirls.’

One look at the series though shows that these photographs are firmly placed in the now and any reference to the past is, well, passed. The vivid colours, the romantic lighting and the elegant poses of the Sistagirls combine to give us a very contemporary window into this group of women who are clearly enjoying themselves on their island paradise of the north.

Thanks to findingfamousaces for submitting this!

(via transpride)

curate:

Sins Invalid is a performance project on disability and sexuality that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized from social discourse. (via Sins Invalid | An Unshamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility)

Thank you, I’d seen the art without her name credited and been looking for it for ages!

so-treu:dominickbrady:Wangechi Mutu

supernaturallady:

blackvanity:

Wangechi Mutu ISA amazing artist.

gauntlet:

undulate:

Persephone Dance Company (by whitneybee)