30″x30″; oil, polyester, charcoal, and paper collage on wood panel; 2022. Courtesy of the artist.
COLLAGE ON VIEW
Paula Mans: See Me
at Homme in Washington, DC, USA
16-30 June 2023
Paula Mans is a self-taught painter, collagist, and art educator. A native Washingtonian, Mans spent many of her formative years living abroad throughout the African Diaspora. The artist reflects upon these experiences in her artistic practice, using mixed media collage as a tool to tell the many stories of the global Black experience. The artist views collage as emblematic of the cultural interconnectedness of the Diaspora. Just as the geographically dispersed people are tied together by the common thread of ancestry, in collage, disjointed pieces are fused to communicate one story.
20″x16″; acrylic, charcoal, and paper collage on wood panel; 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
In her first solo exhibition, entitled “See Me”, Paula Mans contemplates how Black people respond to dynamics of (in)visibility while navigating the dehumanizing systems of racialized surveillance and gentrification. Through her works, Mans critically assesses the objectification of Black people, amplifying their agency by way of the Black Gaze. Rather than being reduced to bodies that are surveilled, consumed, and discarded, Mans’ figures look defiantly out onto the world–confronting, questioning, and challenging the viewer.
(text adapted from material provided by the artist)
INFORMATION
Homme
2000 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20036 USA
EMAIL
Hours:
Wednesday-Thursday, 4-8PM
Sundays by appointment