Joy is more than just a feeling

window winnipeg x Wall-to-Wall

Curated by Ekene Maduka and Mahlet Cuff
Featuring Filmmaker and Artist pluetoe


CURATORIAL STATEMENTS
To understand trauma as a Black person and see the pain that not only you yourself go through but the suffering of others in your community–it leaves you and stays with you always. The events of racism, anti Blackness, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism being heightened and used against Black people in the recent months is not new. It is not new to see violence, discrimination and ongoing trauma being displayed for everyone to see and witness at the same time. I know for myself and the ways I have been able to digest everything that has happened, it is important to take time to process, think and rest. To take care of myself when I see Black people being murdered and accountability is not even a part of the equation.

To be angry, sad and be okay with that. To know that through all this grief, there is happiness within it. To connect with my community, to be surrounded by Black people however that looks like in the age of social distancing. These pieces by these three emerging artists showcase the feeling of pleasure as a Black person and to understand the humanization of the Black experience.

-Mahlet Cuff


I often think about little knee-jerk reactions that I impulsively make. Undoubtedly, waking up and jumping straight on my phone is one of those many actions that have become reflexive. The past few months have felt like a lot of things and nothing all at once–from an overwhelming consumption of violence against black bodies on multiple media outlets, to everything else in-between that has made the majority describe this time as “strange.” Not one work email coming into my inbox has missed out the words “I hope you are well in these trying times” and to some degree, these words have become redundant and lacking in comfort. A paradox really. Despite the strain, despite not being able to fully digest my anger and mixed emotions, one thing is constant; I’ve somehow found ways to genuinely laugh, to smile, to feel stronger in vulnerability. Words are interesting and so is semiotics. The word ‘joy’ with its commonplace nature is as mundane as the act of casual laughter at a table with friends and loved ones. These moments are unaccounted for and are painted as “small” and quotidian. Reduced to just a symbol but robust in feeling. Reduced to the flatness of 2 dimensional prints by virtue of July’s artists Judah, Glodi and Ryan we see these moments frozen and highlighted as being important. I smile with Ryan’s subject with teeth and skin a deep cobalt blue from concert lights in the background. I am warm, I am lifted by the women embracing each other in Judah’s work and feel safe in the vulnerability and intimacy of Glodi’s women in white. From me and Mahlet Cuff and by window winnipeg, we write to you this love letter, a reminder really, that in the midst of our consumption of violence there exists many other sides to the narrative of “the black community”.

- Ekene Maduka