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Insight: Week 13 | Shannon Bono
23-29 September -
INSIGHT IS A NEW ONLINE PLATFORM PRESENTED BY PIPPY HOULDSWORTH GALLERY, DEBUTING WORK BY A DIFFERENT ARTIST EACH WEEK. NEW WORK MADE DURING LOCKDOWN WILL BE HIGHLIGHTED ALONGSIDE A SHORT VIDEO PRESENTED BY THE ARTIST.
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Insight: Week 13 | Shannon Bono
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Shannon Bono uses the term 'Afrofemcentrism' to describe her practice, a consciousness adopted by Elizabeth Catlett, amongst others, that asserts race, sex and art as a way of existing where black women artists take black women as their subjects. The artist works from images of friends, family, and often her own body, expressing vulnerability and strength through nudity. Her large-scale portraits are imposing - they assert themselves through scale, gesture and gaze, advocating for their presence. Questioning power and representation, Bono draws on religious iconography and classical Western art to reclaim space and agency from a post-colonial history. She sets her figures against colourful, patterned backdrops that combine African textile design with biological structures, drawing both on her cultural heritage and background in Biochemistry. Through these macro and micro lenses, Bono considers the relationship between our internal make-up and the external forces that shape us.
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‘Shannon Bono’s paintings use the black female body as a ‘second canvas’ and are a reaction against the limiting cultural narratives that currently contextualise the black female experience.’
Oyin Akande, Wallpaper Magazine, 2020
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