This is Mama and Me (2001), a series of photos by He Chengyao. He and her mother’s relationship plays a central role in her work. He’s mother suffered from mental illness and would often walk around their town naked. In Mama and Me, we see He joining her mother in her topless state. We can see her mother turn around to smile at her before returning to her apple. Though not obvious in this work—where their love for each other is obvious even through the camera—He had a very hard time facing, supporting, and embracing her mother. The creation of this work, according to He, helped her begin to rebuild that relationship. 

About the artist

He Chengyao (b. 1964) is a Chinese artist who explores identity as it unfolds through her complicated relationship with her mother. Her work often incorporates themes of nudity, mental illness, and memory. She works primarily in photo, video, and performance art. Works like Mama and Me were a form of catharsis of He, for things that she has moved and healed from, with help from her work. 

This is Genesis Squared (2019) by Rose B. Simpson. Genesis Squared depicts a mother and child in ceramic and steel. Simpson’s dedication to the affection between the mother and child presents the ability to heal from matrilineal traumas. The title seems to come from the dual depictions of the mother and child: one in the clay of her body and one in the steel of her headpiece.

The laser cut steel plate on her head depicts an intimate mother-child scene. This headpiece references traditional Tablita headdresses worn in Pueblo ceremonies.

Where the genesis in clay feels protective, with the mother tightly holding her child but staring out into the space, the steel genesis feels particularly affectionate, showing the two in a tight embrace.

About the artist

Rose B. Simpson (b. 1983) is a Tewa (Santa Clara Pueblo) sculptor who works primarily in ceramic. Her works often approach the past, present, and future as structured around the matrilineal line. She herself comes from a line of women ceramic artists. Her style is recognizable in the ‘Slap-Slab’ technique in which she assembles her pieces using small slips of clay, leaving the pieces and her own motions—brushstrokes, fingerprints, markings—evident and visible. Her figures are often post-apocalyptic, considering Native American survival in the wake of the climate emergency. 

This is Combing My Hair (2017) by Jonathan Lyndon Chase. Combing My Hair features two Black, queer people in a maroon room. The figure in front is getting their hair done, hence the title. Chase doesn’t fear the body, depicting scars, blemishes, and each figure’s genitalia through their clothes. The act of doing someone’s hair is intimate and affectionate for anyone, even more-so for Black people. Chase speaks to the importance of barber shops in Black American culture, but also the fears that Black queer people feel in spaces not designated for them. In Combing My Hair, there is no anxiety or discomfort present in the figures, only dedication and care. 

About the Artist

Jonathan Lyndon Chase (b. 1989) is an American painter who paints queer Black bodies in mundane spaces, showing Black queerness is not out of the ordinary, but rather incredibly natural. Their works employs collage techniques through paint creating images that can require a hard stare to decipher.