Curator Aindrea Emelife talks to Ashleigh Kane about her radical latest show about Black femininity, opening at London’s Somerset House later this month
Sandro Botticelli’s Fifteenth-century painting, “The Birth of Venus”, has long been considered the apex of female beauty. But there are only so many ladies who can relate to a unadorned blonde woman, birthed from sea foam and emerging from an enormous clam shell. Women who don’t see themselves reflected in Venus’ narrow image have needed to reckon with problematic representations stemming from racism, othering, misogyny, sexualisation and fetishisation.
BLACK VENUS, an exhibition opening at Somerset House on July 20, counters this by showcasing the plurality of Black femininity. Curated by Aindrea...
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