Resting Our Eyes
Curated by Tahirah Rasheed and Autumn Breon
Date
January 21–June 25, 2023
TAHIRAH RASHEED
AUTUMN BREON
IMAGE
Ja’Tovia Gary, Citational Ethics (Saidiya Hartman, 2017), 2020
Neon, glass, wire, metal , 47 x 47 x 6 in.
Collection of Bob Rennie; Vancouver, CANADA
Installation view of Resting Our Eyes, Courtesy of ICA San Francisco. Photo by Impart Photography.
Installation view of Resting Our Eyes, Courtesy of ICA San Francisco. Photo by Impart Photography.
Installation view of Resting Our Eyes, Courtesy of ICA San Francisco. Photo by Impart Photography.
Installation view of Resting Our Eyes, Courtesy of ICA San Francisco. Photo by Impart Photography.
Installation view of Resting Our Eyes, Courtesy of ICA San Francisco. Photo by Impart Photography.
Installation view of Resting Our Eyes, Courtesy of ICA San Francisco. Photo by Impart Photography.
Focusing on the liberation and celebration of Black women through the lens of leisure and physical adornment, Resting Our Eyes features new and existing works from 20 multi-generational Black artists working across sculpture, photography, video, mixed media, painting, and textile. Through embodied experiences of space and temporality, spectrums of abstraction and representation, these artists contend with the limitations and failures of the colonial gaze by casting Black womxn at the center of their visions through leisure and adornment. Collectively, these works invite us to see Black womxn as fully realized and free.
Derrick Adams, Sadie Barnette, Traci Bartlow, Knowledge Bennett, LaKela Brown, Genevieve Gaignard, Ja'Tovia Gary, Lauren Halsey, Simone Leigh, Helina Metaferia, Ebony G. Patterson, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Hank Willis Thomas, Lava Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Adana Tillman, Leila Weefur, Carrie Mae Weems, and Deborah Willis.
Tahirah Rasheed is a multi-hyphenate convener of incredible people and ideas. She is an internationally traveled Disc Jockey, former lab assistant, biomedical researcher, published in medical journals, University of California Berkeley Alumni, neon artist and Co-owner and the Director of Community Engagement for Calexo, a sparkling cannabis beverage. She co-founded "See Black Womxn and in 2020 she was a YBCA 100 honoree. In 2022, she completed the 545 mile bicycle ride fundraiser for AIDS/Lifecycle. Tahirah lends her many talents and experiences to each venture in service of strengthening and delighting her community. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Times Magazine and ARTnews magazine.
Autumn Breon curates and creates art to communicate ideas related to liberation, identity, and Diasporic memory. A graduate of Stanford University, Breon studied Aeronautics & Astronautics and researched aeronautical astrobiology applications for NASA. Breon’s examination of contemporary art throughout the African Diaspora began while living and working in South Africa and her work has been recognized by the Smithsonian Institution, Aspen Institute, TED, and the Obama Foundation.
Generous support for "Resting Our Eyes" is provided by the ICA SF founding donors and Phillips. Additional support is provided by our partners, Temescal Brewing.