my papa used to play checkers
For her solo exhibition, my papa used to play checkers, titled after her eponymous photograph, Woods presents a body of work created after her artist residency at Black Rock Senegal in Dakar, Senegal in 2021.
Inspired by such indelible traces of a transatlantic cultural continuity, Woods has created an enchanting video titled, your destination is in a different time zone (2023), a suspended curtain woven from hair and porcelain okras, titled we makin gumbo? (2023), photographs, and sandcastles filled with Carolina Gold rice.
Woods’ visual creations are accompanied by poems written by frequent collaborator and poet Laura Neal in response to her work. Original scores composed by Johannes Barfield, another regular collaborator, further enrich this exhibition, in which all of the elements are conceived as part of a single, immersive installation.
-Rangsook Yoon, Ph.D., senior curator, Sarasota Art Museum.
Solo-Exhibition tilted: my papa used to play checkers
Installation view at the Sarasota Art Museum
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we makin gumbo? (detail image) 2023, 138in x 204in x 8in
196 porcelain slip-cast okras, braided synthetic hair, and beads.
During the trans-Atlantic slave trade, African women, particularly rice farmers from West Africa, braided rice seeds into their hair to preserve their heritage and ensure survival. Okra seeds, among other things, were also believed to be braided into the hair.
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During my artist residency at Black Rock Senegal, while learning to cook Supa Kanja, a traditional Senegalese dish, I asked, "we makin' gumbo?" The cook held up a piece of okra, locally known as ki ngombo or gumbo in West Africa.
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In my upbringing, okra is a familiar ingredient, often harvested from my mother's garden, and gumbo is a cherished dish. However, my time in Senegal underscored the profound connection I maintained with my African heritage despite being raised in the American South. Displayed as a beaded curtain on a post-and-lintel structure evoking a portal, my artwork titled we making gumbo? captures this connection and history.
we makin gumbo? (detail image) 2023, 138in x 204in x 8in
196 porcelain slip-cast okras, braided synthetic hair, and beads.
Growing up in the American South is steeped in the smell of Lipton tea brewing on the stove as the sugar melts into syrup. It's the privilege of being connected to our ancestors: fried okra, gumbo, black-eyed peas, yams, tomato rice, sitting on front porches, getting our hair braided. It's a culture that connects us to what was before.
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-Stephanie J. Woods
your destination is in a different time zone (projection) 2023, 138in x 106.75in
Moving audio photography, 3 minutes 58-second loop
Carolina Gold (floor sculpture) 2023, 72in x 72in x 3in
Beach sand from Galveston, TX, Carolina Gold rice, and checkered platform.
your destination is in a different time zone
Videography: Stephanie J. Woods
Sound: Johannes Barfield
Poetry: Laura Neal
your destination is in a different time zone, is a moving audio photography piece that contemplates themes of meditation, identity, place, and belonging. My encounter with the historic island of Gorée left an indelible mark on me. The image of the Door of No Return and the whispered echoes of spirits adrift in the ocean informed the narrative of this work.
During my residency in Senegal, I recorded field recordings of the rhythmic sounds of weavers on looms at Aissa Dione's workshop, which is the sound used at the beginning and end of the video.
Carolina Gold, (detail) 2023, 72in x 72in x 3in
Beach sand from Galveston, TX, Carolina Gold Rice, and checkered platform.
Solo-Exhibition tilted: my papa used to play checkers
Installation view at the Sarasota Art Museum
my papa used to play checkers, 2022, 24.5in x 36.5in x 2in
Photograph, hand-dyed fabric, watermelon, afro hair, beads, and barrettes.
Edition of 2
What has always intrigued me about the work of Stephanie J. Woods is the monumentality with which she treats family traditions, ancestral legacies, and the things that could not be taken from Black people. In “my papa used to play checkers,” Woods builds a photograph filled with a daughter’s childhood memories of her father that is rich in symbolism. Checkers is more than just a popular neighborhood game; it is ancient, and the hand dyed cotton fabric that replicates and references a checkerboard is the metaphor for the neighborhood and equally for the landscapes that shape us. Characterized by the good-natured competition and wit exchanged by Black men in parks and domestic spaces across the country, checkers is a game of men who race across the board to become kings. Here, however, the “board” has become soft and hand-crafted and drapes protectively around the ears, neck, and shoulders of the figure. The brightly colored, red plastic beads and barrettes tell the viewer that the figure is a girl or woman who’s elaborately braided, Afro-textured, coiffure creates a protective cage around a watermelon that has been halved and that now rests upon her head. The watermelon is a surprising and touching detail. It is a reclamation that also honors a father for the good times and good things that can be recalled. The chessboard is a neighborhood, is a landscape, is a royal robe only matched by the beautiful and intricate braids, by the beads and barrettes that adorn this royal crown.
-Kirsten Pai Buick, Ph.D., Professor of Art History and Chair of Africana Studies, The University of New Mexico.
watermelon sandcastle, 2023, 60” X 30.99” X 2”
Acrylic print with lightbox, beach sand from Galveston, TX, and watermelon.