Last year, in early summer, I was reflecting on a few collages I had made. Meticulously cut flowers and handcrafted hearts were consistently present in my work. A couple of days later I was speaking with a friend and catching up over the phone. I had no idea she and her boyfriend had relocated from Atlanta to Los Angeles. We were talking about what life was like in Atlanta for both of us and comparing and contrasting the differences and the unique aspects of our new hometowns. I have been in Chicago for close to a decade now, I’m settled, comfortable and still growing. LA has been an interesting transition for my friend, who happens to be a black woman. An overall good, but interesting experience nonetheless.
Other than me asking her to please send me a piece of her pottery and her discussing how she felt living in her particular neighborhood, the details of our conversation are fuzzy. I definitely remember her saying she didn’t “feel visible or seen“ and it was as if people looked right through her. Unfortunately, this is shared experience for far too many black women, her words resonated with me.
I thought about the visibility of black women, how we are often perceived/misperceived, stereotyped/misunderstood and then I pondered the ways in which our presence (complexion, style, hair, voice, etc.) is often diminished. Then I thought back to all of the flowers in my collages. How do you see a flower and act like it doesn’t exist?
I retreated back to cutting flowers and black female faces/bodies from fashion magazines. I double downed on the beauty of flowers and the beauty of black women. I wanted to make collages that made my sisters, my mom, my entire family of women, all of my friends and other black women feel visible and recognized.
There are flowers that bloom in every season. Bloom where you are planted, they can’t continue to ignore you. It’s cliche, but it’s true. Remember, you are more than enough.
“More Than Enough”
Handcrafted collage by Heather Polk 2020 @artcuresall