This Immersive Art Experience in Houston Celebrates the Beauty of Black Women
If you’re based in or near Houston and want to support Black women artists during Black History Month, there’s a new free or donation-based immersive art exhibit opening at PostHTX in the city this month. The exhibit, titled “black women are worthy: immersive art experience,” is spearheaded by Deun Ivory, the creator of the body: a home for love, a non-profit organization that aims to shift cultural conversations about Black women and how they heal from sexual trauma.
The pop-up exhibit will use “conceptual design to reimagine the world as a safe and affirming place for Black women,” including a visual gallery, a film screening, and excerpts “rooted in affirmations and self-love reminders.” Opening on Feb. 19, it will run for three weeks and will offer an in-person imagining of the organization’s commitment to democratizing access to beauty, wellness, and self-healing techniques specifically for Black women.
On opening night, visitors can RSVP to attend a guided meditation session led by yoga teacher and lululemon ambassador Davina Davidson, which also includes access to the exhibit itself. It’s open to the public in accordance with local COVID-19 safety guidelines.
As for the organization itself, Ivory and her team work to provide restorative programming, art, design and wellness experiences online and in person. In 2020, she told Womanly Magazine, “We exist to not only restore the necessity of self-love, agency, and wholeness, but to educate Black women on the impacts of patriarchy as it relates to how we’ve been taught to blame ourselves for our abuse. This project/vision is important and urgent because it explores the trauma that so many of us face, yet no one is held accountable for, leaving us to normalize sexual violence, or even blame ourselves. There is a need for Black women, specifically, to have a safe space where we can feel validated by our experiences, to understand ourselves better and even explore the root of why we have trouble with intimacy, vulnerability, self-confidence, and sexual pleasure.”
If you can’t make it to the exhibit, you can support the body: a home for love on social media and learn more about their mission and upcoming offerings.