BLUE TEA W/HONEY
An Exhibition by Brittany Smith
"The narrative of those I cannot visualize lay dormant in me. They are woven in my blood and strewn through my DNA. They materialize themselves through my hand. Their fingertips becoming my own, marked by the staining of indigo. The water used to produce my cloth which carries their stories left murky like our ocean filled with the bodies of those brave enough to jump ship and refused to contribute to our narrative plagued by colonization. Your sunken place becoming our freedom space.
Listen to what you perceive to be the whispers of your ancestors, who walk beside you. As they are crying out to you, calling your name, yelling at the top of their lungs in a pitch that is barely audible in this realm. I will reclaim what was withheld, turn the inklings of what I hear into song until I return to where they're calling me from."
-Remnants, A poem & Artist Statement by Brittany Smith
SERENITY IN FLIGHT 2018
Hand screen-printed wallpaper & correlating garment.
Paper Crane.
Fly this way.
Bring me a blessing, oh yes please right away.
& When you’re done, I'll sing of you.
I'll tell all the people of the great things you do.
But once you’re done, I know you cannot stay.
Someone else is calling, need your help right away.
& When you’re done, they'll sing of you.
& tell all the people of the great things you do.
Paper Crane, A poem & song by Brittany Smith
“I look to cloth to illustrate the tenderness and fragility I never awarded myself. To give shape to my personhood and to form the words I am afraid to speak for fear that my voice is not loud enough on its own.”
