V Queer Studies
Easter Symposium
11 April - 16 April, 2011
Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana
Taken
Spaces: Black Lesbians in White Aesthetics
by Sherley Camille Olopherne
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Taken Spaces: Black Lesbians in White
Aesthetics examines the subtleties of moments for black lesbians as they
negotiate and insist on space. Historically dominated by white women, the
queer and lesbian community is presented in Taken Spaces as a black experience.
A collection of portraits and mixed media in the form of collage, black
lesbians are exhibited in all their complexities and colors in human and
mundane acts. This momentary portraiture presumes community building for
Black Lesbians can and should include grinding and sweating at a club as well
as a rally or picnicking.
Sherley Camille Olopherne:
I think my photographic
vision is coming into focus just as I’m coming into myself and submitting all
of my being to all possibilities wherever they may come. Artistically at a
crossroad and committing myself to producing images that present the perverse,
the destructive, the sexual, the eroticized and ultimately the beauty of life
and women bodies. It is intentional the focus of my photography are of Black
women first and everything else thereafter. Exhausted upon entering (lesbian,
white) spaces to only find ten or so Black women peppered here and there for
effect I wanted to create a space where Black women are the sole or at least
the central subjects. It’s also important to me as an artist that the Black
women I showcase thru my photography are not the ones readily visible in
(lesbian, white) circles and feel it my duty almost bring to the foreground the
Black lesbians with “everyday” tribulations” and concerns.
I often hesitate to label
myself an artist. Photography for me is a very selfish action, I simply wanted
to interact with my community in a heartfelt and meaningful way and found all
other avenues too distant to what I wanted to say, which is simply I/we exist,
us Black lesbians, us Black women, us poor, middle class women, us folks who
wail unabashedly when hurt, us folks who love maniacally and obsessively, us
folks who are simply deemed too “dirty” for the crisp mainstream or
heterosexual society.”
