Opening Celebration - Qualeasha Wood: code_anima
This event is made possible by the generous support of Ally Financial
Qualeasha Wood, "come outside, (we finna jump u)," detail, 2024, woven jacquard and glass seed beads, 80 x 58.62 inches, Courtesy of the artist.
As part of the Gantt Golden Year, join us to celebrate the opening of Qualeasha Wood: code_anima. This exhibition explores themes of identity, digital and physical boundaries, and the influence of outside forces. Defined as "an individual's true inner self," anima examines the archetypes found within physical and digital society. Wood's technical skills are evident in the digital collages within her tapestries and the colorful scenes of her hand-made tuftings. The materiality of these textiles (the warp and weft) are embedded with a "code," serving as a symbol for the inner workings of the dual experiences felt by Black people, particularly Black women, as well as the multifaceted online identities that mirror or oppose our physical existence.
For Wood, "code_anima delves into the complexities of identity, expectation, and erasure through the prisms of race, gender, and sexuality."
The reception includes an artist talk between Qualeasha Wood and Dr. Fernanda Villarroel Lamoza, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies, at Davidson College. Enjoy light refreshments and participate in this enlightening artistic experience.
About Dr. Fernanda Villarroel Lamoza
Dr. Fernanda Villarroel Lamoza is a specialist in contemporary art and visual culture from Africa and the global diaspora, with a focus on Black Feminist Studies, Queer Theory, and Decolonial Practice. Born in Chile, she received a degree in Anthropology from the University of Chile, Santiago, before continuing her studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she completed an MA in Anthropology and a PhD in Art History.
As a first-generation graduate coming of age in the wake of a violent dictatorship, Dr. Lamoza's practice-oriented research draws from her in-depth analysis of artworks, proficiency in Yoruba and Hausa languages, and extensive global fieldwork in the US, Nigeria, the UK, Germany, and Italy. She has received numerous awards, including Fulbright-Hays D. D.R.A, Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, and The Sylvan C. Coleman and Pam Coleman Memorial Fund Fellowship from The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Dr. Lamoza's first book, Refiguring the Feminine: Reparative Art Practices from the Black Atlantic, proposes an understanding of the feminine as a strategic position for artists and critics to read against the narratives that have historically delegitimized and devalued Black lives, philosophies, and aesthetics.
