Self-Portrait in Straight Jacket Surrounded by 7 Potencias Africanas with Kathleen Cleaver as La Virgen de La Candelaria and Assata Shakur as La Orisha Oya-Yansa 2017. Oil on canvas
I notice from all her work, the center of the paintings are women in the forms of goddesses, and I think it's really empowering how the women she paints are also lactating. In this painting, Assata Shakur is in the image of the Orisha Oya Yansa, goddess of the winds in the Yoruba and Santeria religion. I like how through this piece, Bernard is emphasizing intersectional feminism by calling out the men of Civil Rights Movements who are rapists and abusers, like the husband of Kathleen Cleaver. Cleaver is shown in this painting as La Virgen de La Candelaria, "The Black Madonna" of the Canary Islands. In all of Bernard's work, I feel like she isn't afraid to show the truth, and that's what stood out to me the most.
Woah! The piece you posted is really fascinating! I think that the way this piece addresses the artists traumas, i.e. her assault with B*ll C*sby, is really powerful. It gives art meaning. I understand the painting as an example of healing through creative expression. It has the spiritual elements with Santeria and even addresses the own artists traumas, which also would need healing. Also shout-out to the syncretism of radical women like Shakur and Cleaver and the Santeria dieties Orisha Oya Yansa and La Virgen de La Candelaria. Even santeria comes from a blend of religions and spiritualities!
ReplyDelete#True, I like how she's bringing light to Santeria because I feel like "Western society" or whateva is too caught up in its own patriarchal institutional religions and has historically oppressed folks who practice other forms of spirituality & basically demonize women of color !!! smh. S/O to the matriarchy and to all the trans queer fluid nonconforming powerful black and brrown muxeres and femmes who have been erased by history
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