The Black History Month art exhibit in the City of Orlando, was a beautiful opportunity and one of my first events in Florida since I had moved down here. The variety in works and artist alike was truly one thing I will never take for granted! It was beautiful being able to be a part of such an immerse story of black labor and the paths we must pioneer for ourselves as creatives and the accountability we should hold our communities to.

I showcased my piece “Modern Revolution”, a digital illustration I created in the beginning of 2024. The piece was a celebratory homage to black cowboys post slavery in the midwest and onward. The levels of prejudice, racism, and overall struggles they had to fight through to pioneer and shift the narrative of cowboys for good was more than a revolutionary act, but a blueprint we can look back on today as we still fight for rights. However, today it’s more deeply rooted, hidden, and may I even say not cared about because of what we are “given”. “Modern Revolution” is a reminder to carry the same attitude as our predecessors as we fight for our rights today for the betterment of our communities.

:iidrr Gallery: Through Thought 

Exhibition Dates: October 17 - 27, 2024 

Curated by Bebe Uddin 

Artists: MAESTRO, Sujetka, Cidney Cher, Sherly Fan, Arielle Weenonia Gray, Emma June Jones , Rui Kez, Jeremiah Morris, Sydney Wilson, Annu Yadav, Bethany Yeap 

Text co-written by Murph Phi, Bebe Uddin, & Zhanying 

In this first series installment of “Through Thought”, :iidrr gallery is pleased to invite audiences into a thought-provoking collection of works from artists along the east coast that allow us a look into the journey of creating work that reflects the distinct narrative histories that embody the lived experience of the artist, while exposing the choreographic relationship between realization, reason and reaction. 

The intention of “Through Thought” is to challenge the viewer’s mind, beliefs or views of a particular subject, thought or the idea presented in the submitted work. The target submission is not completely fixed on imagination or just the idea or psychology of thought, and can also be communicated or informed by thought provoking behaviors. This is a way to help the person experiencing the work to understand conception from more of a minimal perspective if they were to land in a moment of photography. In the first installment of the series, we tasked each artist to contend with the concept of “Figurative.” 

Each artist featured in “Through Thought” suggests a subversion of our normative definition of figurative to extend into the realm of varied art mediums. The exhibit intends to explore the abstract, conceptual, literal, and learned dimensions of critical figurative thinking and its interpretive materialization via the personalized narratives of the artist’s lived experiences. Each artist has mobilized a mode of the imaginative from the real, surreal, and hyper-real to reflect narratives distinct to each own’s historical framework of perceiving themselves and the world around them. The artist has achieved a semblance of the figurative. Through a varied series of configuration, disfiguration, reconfiguration, and transfiguration, a narrative has been solidified utilizing themes that touch on the social, economic, and political climate we find ourselves presently divided within.
Steeped in the vibrant essence of city life and her African American heritage, Sydney Wilson’s sunset-hued, graffiti-styled paintings are bold, bombastic confrontations of everyday stagnicity that tempt the viewers, fueled by raw, untamed mythological energy, to embark on a wild expedition into the acidity of cultural landscapes. Hybridizing urban Black cultural realities with supernatural fantasies, grotesque mysticism and divine power, her portraits tear open the liminal realm where heart, veins, and souls pulsate in a single beat under the arrest of trauma-informed extrication, a moment when the inner saints and demons are both battled and embraced. 

Root Work” is centered on the deep state reflection we must encounter to experience  growth and separate from ourselves. We are faced with having to tend to our inner weeds and either; nurture, grow, or remove certain parts of ourselves mentally, physically, spiritually or figuratively. “Root Work” serves as a symbol of decision for ourselves. To look deeper than the surface level to unveil the complexity and toxicity within a deep root trauma/suffering we have in ourselves. The falling figure represents acceptance in being in a non controllable state, allowing things around and on us to be as is. Free yourself on the constrictions placed upon you and find what tools you need for your next stage of blooming.