A Constellation of Blackness

True F. Luck Gallery
Visual Arts Center of Richmond, Richmond, VA
Curated by Veronica Jackson and Julia Chance. 

The word constellation is defined as a “group or configuration of ideas, feelings, characteristics, objects, etc., that are related in some way.” A CONSTELLATION OF BLACKNESS: RENDERING INVISIBILITY, HYPERVISIBILITY, DEVALUATION, AND TRIUMPH is a multi-media exhibition of work by Veronica Jackson that addresses notions of invisibility, hypervisibility, devaluation, and triumph experienced by Black women in America. Jackson employs printmaking, typography, and historic photographs to create a series of striking installations of individual yet integrated works of art produced in various mediums, as exemplified by the featured body of work in this exhibition, the BLACKTIVISTS series.

During her nine-month artist residency at VisArts, Jackson produced three new iterations of the BLACKTIVISTS project. Upon black stained birch veneer plywood, she silk-screened the twelve portraits in black ink and applied her signature black glitter. The body of work still speaks to Black women’s invisibility but the material and scale of the panels present a more intimate viewing of the artwork’s subjects. However in kiln-fired white glass, the work takes on a new perspective, a heightened and ethereal visibility. And when rendered with silver ink on white paper and flocked with silver holographic glitter, these women’s visages symbolize visibility, acknowledgment, and the value that comes with being seen.

Welcome to A CONSTELLATION OF BLACKNESS.