take care

take care is a photographic installation by artist Karice Mitchell, whose practice seeks to unapologetically represent blackness as a site of resistance. Historically, Black women’s sexuality was central to their exploitation. Their sexuality continues to be systematically constructed and controlled through the white gaze, casting Black women as undesirable and “other” in order to normalize violence against them. Due to the ways in which Black women have been stereotyped as hypersexual beings in an effort to preserve white supremacy, Black women are often deprived of exercising full sexual autonomy. By re-appropriating and reclaiming Black erotic imagery, Mitchell subverts this history to begin redefining and reimagining possibilities for Black sexuality to exist beyond its historical construction. The words “take care” gesture to the importance of carving space for Black women to take care of themselves while acknowledging a collective history. Through enacting care, healing can be fostered to imagine empowering possibilities for existence.

Credit: Karice Mitchell, Hamilton Artists Inc.