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Sonya Clark Exhibition Explores Black Culture Hair has long been used around the world as fiber, as adornment and as signifier of identity. Hair — braided, plaited, knotted, combed or natural — is a Sonya Clark language. Sonya Clark’s artworks reclaim the cultural power of hair and untangle the snarled knots of race, gender, and class. Clark’s carefully crafted artworks explore the power of hair through contemporary art, consciously binding together content and material by using hair and combs as cultural and physical mediums. Self-identifying as an artist of African American, Caribbean and Scottish ancestry, she is deeply invested in the intimacy and tradition of craft as
well as the visual narratives that situate us historically. As Clark says: “In this country, hair is still used to negotiate race.” Entanglements surveys Sonya Clark’s career as a visual storyteller using textile, craft and design, with works that are beaded, woven, piled and plied. The exhibition features sculptures, installations, and photographs made of hair and combs. The exhibit also debuts two new sculptures: Passing and No Passing. In these works, Clark comments on difference, physical borders and the tendency to divide that is present in politics throughout the world. Clark’s artwork affirms and celebrates the prolific creativity of Black culture, while upbraiding racially oppressive narratives. Her work defies expectations of common and kindred materials to ask questions and to tell stories. Through her chosen materials, Clark claims her place in an ongoing global conversation.
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) 750 Marguerite Drive, Winston-Salem www.secca.org 336-725-1904 Sonya Clark: Entanglements is on view through January 7
Inside...
Segmented Marketing Services, Inc. Founder & CEO
Lafayette Jones
Publisher, Urban Call; SMSi-Urban Call Marketing, Inc. President & CEO
Welcome to a special art event at SECCA Aqua Allure This piece was originally made for a traveling show about the West/ Central/South African mother goddess deity Mami Wata—healer, siren and mermaid, often shown with a mirror and comb. These symbols associated with Mami Wata give added significance to Clark’s use of combs, which she started incorporating into her work in 2005. Courtesy the artist
Meet artist Sonya Clark..................... 2
Welcome to another edition of Urban Call. Our companies, Segmented Marketing Services Inc. (SMSi) and SMSi-Urban Call Marketing, a 35-yearold marketing venture, are delighted to partner with the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in a public-private community event which highlights the work of a very talented African-American woman, Sonya Clark. Her work is on view at SECCA. Find her story online (secca.org). We hope your visit will be the first of many to this treasury of art in Winston-Salem. SMSi-Urban Call Marketing, Inc Winston-Salem, NC 27103 E-Mail: SMSiPartners@smsi-net.com SegmentedMarketing.com
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