CUSP

Steve Johnson

In Gherdai Hassell’s first U.S. solo exhibition, the color black is a point of departure for deep inquiry. The multifaceted nature of black identity, existing not as a monolith but on spectrum, is explored. In this body of work, the figures are hybrid female forms exploring identity through rest, being, and fashion. Utilizing many different textures, layers, and materiality, the color black itself becomes a portal to imagine futures. This work, on the cusp, does not just position which futures are imaginable, it also determines what pieces of our collective past would survive in such a future.

Hassell constructs and deconstructs identity, revealing layers of history and the complexities of post colonial and Afro Caribbean heritage. Each image is given a new life and meaning by the cutting, sculpting, manipulating and re-assembling of the image.

This work elevates the onion as a marker for identity, inspired by Nellie E. Musson’s 1979 book Mind The Onion Seed, which examines the contribution of Black Bermudian women. The onion was to Bermuda what cotton was to America. In Bermuda, Bermudian people are affectionately referred to as “onions,” and Black women were “minders” of the onion seed.