Little miss mary mack you make my heart go young Venus Williams (1994)
pony beads, monofilament, hardware
stop-gap projects, 2023
It is common to select a bead color complementary to a child’s sneakers or their wardrobe or allow them the pleasure of wearing their favorite color. Beads at the end of braids clack when a head turns too fast, signaling motion. They afford somebody a quiet kind of confidence, as it is, at the very least, an indicator a child has a caretaker at home who stole enough time to not only braid in zigzags or straight-backs or curves or singles, but further ornament the style with a complementary pink or yellow or green or clear or purple bead. It is a gorgeous way to signal someone loves a little somebody—a fortification to carry into the classroom or the doctor’s office, a mundane exaltation of belonging and joy, a quality sweetness a Black child may be hard pressed to find outside their home. To adorn, in this case, is to love.
Shown in stop-gap projects (Columbia, MO) these are two 5x5’ tapestries wherein the text include excerpts of one poem (found at the top of this webpage) I wrote celebrating the feeling of being young, loved out-loud, and having your hair done. Photographs have been taken at different times of day over the course of a month and a half.