The S.O.S. 411: ed i <3
Art news, fave reads, honoring Nikki Giovanni and Lorraine O'Grady and more!
Hey Sugs! Welcome to the first official edition of The SOS 411, an insight into international Black women and gender expansive art news!
Editors Message:
I hope your Sunday brought you much needed rest and relaxation. With the holiday season in full gear and the pressure to meet your last minute goals, it can feel like an overstimulating season to be in. Maybe this season is joyful for you. Maybe it is a reminder of grief. Regardless, I hope you know that you making it this far is more than enough. If no one has told you: you are worthy as you are.
If you would prefer to explore the text in a different format please feel free to clink on this link to view in a publication form in Canva!
🍵 Here’s What We’re Sippin’ On: Ginger Tea
With the winter finally here, I find myself yearning for a warm drink to heat my belly in the mornings. When my intuition doesn’t seem to be pulling me in any particular direction, I think of my ma, my mother’s mother, and how quickly she would tell me to drink some ginger tea so that I don’t get sick. I add equal amounts of honey and ginger, so that I can feel the warm and sweet sensations in perfect balance on my tongue. I drink the cup in completion, wishing there was more, more time to make more, more time to drink. Thank you Ma <3
Here is a piece that has been warming me just the same:
Uma Marson My Beloved
From her book Towards the StarsI will make you my Beloved!
I will sing to you
Songs that are sweet;
I will send to you
Thoughts that are beautiful.
I will give to you
Smiles that are tender;
I will smooth for you
Paths that are tough;
I will paint for you
Exquisite pictures;
I will play to you
Music divine;
I will comfort you
When you are weary;
I will cheer you
When you are sad.
I will be near you
When you are lonely;
I will send to you
Sweet dreams at night;
I will make for you
Days of delight.
And all —
And more than all —
You ask of me
I will do for you —
I will make you my Beloved.
🥂Sunday Muses
You can check out this week’s Sunday Muses by clicking on the name above!
☕What’s On My Coffee Table:
WOMCT is a section featured to showcase what texts I have been loving as of late + some industry favorites. This is a section dedicated to the Black women and non-binary writers whose work has been resonating with me!
![Mama Day [Book]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!41l4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F556d32c1-afbe-48a6-b646-74635b5e6c48_648x1000.jpeg "Mama Day [Book]")
📰“Here’s The Tea” General Artsy News📰
ArtReview has released their annual Power 100 list of the most influential artists of the international contemporary art scene. The intent of the list is to acknowledge the “figures and faces who have created, inspired and crafter the art we see.” Of the individuals featured 6 are Black women. Here is the list in full.
ARTnews has released their top 6 Exhibitions by Black Artists
ArtNetworkAfrica | African Artists Featured At The Art Basel Miami Beach
🗒️Articles to Explore🗒️
Juxtapoz | On Top of the World with Kyndacee Harris
ARTnews | Samantha Box’s Still Life Collages Look at How the Caribbean Is Exported to Its Diaspora
🎤Appointments🎤
Alvin Ailey | Alvin Ailey has announced Alicia Graf Mack as their new director
Koyo Kouoh Appointed Artistic Director of 2026 Venice Biennale
The Art Newspaper | Naomi Beckwith named artistic director of Documenta in 2027
Juxtapoz | On Top of the World with Kyndacee Harris
🏛️Exhibitions🏛️
Art Africa Magazine: The Women of Kuru: Elevating Artistic Voices, Preserving Culture & Memory
Juxtapoz | Serpentine Hosts the UK Debut of the Los Angeles-based Lauren Halsey in “emajendat”
🖼️Artwork to Purchase🖼️
Cierra Britton Gallery: Body & Soul Exhibition
Artists Featured: Kennedi Carter, Satchel Lee, Myesha Evon Gardner, Ms. z tye, Amandla Baraka, Flo Ngala
“Rising above the long and problematic history of Black bodies being seen predominately through the white male gaze in visual culture, each of these artists have radically established their presence in contemporary photography by telling personal and communal stories through their lens.”
🤎Platforms to Check Out🤎
Black Trans Femmes in the Arts | @/btfacollective on Instagram
Black Women Radicals | @/blackwomenradicals on Instagram
🕯️Altars🕯️
Altars is a dedicated space to honor the Black women creatives that have passed. Here, in this space, we create a digital altar, as a means of uplifting both their work and who they were as individuals. Throughout the Black Diaspora, altars have been used as a means of venerating our ancestors, and uplifting their names. While many of us may hold no direct relation to the artists and creatives that are to be featured, for many of us, we found a(nother) grandmother, mother, sister, girl friend, etc. within the characters in their works or the artists themselves. My goal with this space is to curate a sort of living memoriam in honor of them, that can be archived so that future generations will understand their impact and how we truly loved them.
For the most basic altar, all you need is a candle, water and a photo. The candle represents the element of fire, serving as a light to guide the ancestors to the altar, and water serving as a conduit of energy and communication. While those elements cannot be replicated digitally, the light of their legacies and the ways in which their works have nourished us will stand as a representation. Each post will include their photo and a few of their works. If you feel so inclined to, please feel free to share your favorite pieces, memories, or even share your own works inspired by said artists.
This past week we lost two absolute powerhouses: Nikki Giovanni and Lorraine O’Grady. In many ways their mission was alike: champion those whose voices have been deemed unworthy, insignificant, unseen. Their passion was evident in all of their works, and their dedication to shifting the narrative that Black women are to remain insignificant was unwavering.
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni was an eminent light. Bright. Bold. Honest. Unapologetic. Her work spanned that of 5 decades and never once lost its fire. Her poems were more than stanzas of writing, they were literary odes to that of Blackness, Black womaness, and what it meant to exist in every season and fold of life. Her work with the Black Arts Movement and literary landscape beyond helped to reshape the ways in which Black literature was perceived. She was not only bold in her own work, but a staunch advocate for Black women writers as a whole, championing her peers like Sonia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni, Toni Cade Bambara and more. She was a poet, activist, educator, cultural worker and cultural critic. You can catch a full artist insight on her life and work this Sunday!
Here is one of my favorite poems of hers <3
Bay Leaves by Nikki Giovanni
I watched Mommy
Cook
Though I cooked
With Grandmother
With Grandmother I learned
To pluck chickens
Peel carrots
Turn chittlins inside out
Scrub pig feet
With Mommy I watched
leftovers for stew
Or vegetable soup
Great northern beans
Mixed collards turnips and mustard greens
Garlic cloves Bay Leaves
Very beautifully green
Stiff so fresh
With just a pinch of salt
Not everything together
All the time but all the time
Keeping everything
I make my own
Frontier soup in a crock pot
I make my own ice cream with a pinch of salt
And everything else
With garlic
But fresh Bay Leaves
Are only for very special
Ox Tails
📹Readings and Interviews📹
Woodberry Poetry Room: An Evening with Nikki Giovanni (April 2, 2024)
TheHistoryMakers: An Evening With Nikki Giovanni (Atlanta 2005)
SMU Jones Film: Nikki Giovanni Interviewed And Reads “Revolutionary Dreams” - February 1974
Def Poetry Jam: Nikki Giovanni - Nikki Rosa
Lorraine O’Grady:
“Performance's advantage over fiction was its ability to combine linear storytelling with nonlinear visuals. You could make narratives in space as well as in time, and that was a boon for the story I had to tell.” - Lorraine O’Grady on Nefertiti/Devonia Evangeline
Lorraine O’Grady was the definition of badass. A champion of Black women within the art world, she sought to amplify the voices of the marginalized. O’Grady drew from her own experiences of being excluded from both the white and Black art world, and actively spoke out against the racism and misogynoir Black women artists experienced. She was an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, and she knew it well enough. Her work was radical, knew no bounds whether in medium or expression, and teared at the very seams of what it meant to exist within white male dominated spaces, while being utterly unapologetic in its seamless forms and unlimited mediums. A full exposé of O’Grady and her work will be posted this Sunday!
📹Videos and Interviews📹
Smith College Museum of Art Artist in Conversation: Lorraine O'Grady
New Museum: Simone Leigh in Conversation with Lorraine O'Grady
Examples of Her Work
Articles:
The Art Newspaper (potential paywall)
Really enjoyed this in your canva publication view as well as in substack well thought out and appreciate the work
Omg. This is amazing. Well Done. Thank you for the mention.