The Frank-Ratchye Project Space presents a new body of work by Mengjiao Zhang. This multimedia installation features video, photography, interactive sculptures, and documentation of the artist’s performative marriage to the United States.
The Water Carries Us explores the perspectives of Black & Afro-Native women as they have been impacted by colonialism, forced removal from ancestral lands, and enslavement. Engaging with material like cotton, indigo, clay, & black walnuts, Brownfield honors her African & Afro-Native ancestors who survived the Maafa (Middle Passage) and Trail of Tears. Using traditional textiles, she explores how materials can transcend time, space, and reject colonial constructs. In this work she seeks to acknowledge the ways that reclamation of culture acts as a practical rhythm which provides somatic healing for those impacted by enslavement and colonialism.
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