Nafis M. White is an interdisciplinary Artist whose recent body of works are created from objects commonly found in beauty supply stores, industrial sites and the seemingly limitless horizons of our global and political landscapes. Through weaving, hairdressing, sculpture and installation, White centers the uncanny audacity of self-affirmation and love by means of repetition as a form of change. White is inspired by raw materials and their transformative properties and abilities to tell dynamic stories when in congress. White’s formal training is in sculpture, printmaking and digital media. She uses concept as anchor and medium as message in her work moving within conceptual and durational realms. Community engagement, beauty, freedom and the political root deep in White’s work. Nafis lives and works in Providence, Rhode Island.

White is represented by Cade Tompkins Projects.

With community there is nothing that we can’t do. There is no obstacle that is too difficult to face and overcome. Renaissance Wombxn, Nafis M. White, has been everything that constitutes the undisputed truth in both the modern and ancient world for as long as I can remember. She is the embodiment of a loving community member especially beginning with community of self. From revered art school backgrounds, Nafis of RISD and me of The New School, we immediately had a deep Soul knowing of things seen and unseen, spoken and unspoken. Our conversations have been and continue to be pure and complete nourishment from our root chakras to our crown chakras. We live in a society that is obsessed with content and creation yet hates the Creatrix and is completely removed from the importance of being content and truly doing the inner engineering. Hence, it is a profound multi-sensory pleasure and honor to bear witness inside and outside of the studio to the gifts that Nafis bears and unselfishly offers to us. Nafis’ Spirit of Intimacy is not and has never been pedantic or performative but is a gift to be held with true tenderness and reverence. To share her love, her body, her Spirit and self should not be taken for granted and must be approached with a sincere heart, eyes and Soul. To live takes courage. Nafis is a living artist, heavy on the living, and to know her is to love her. I give thanks to keep this circle unbroken and to stand in the threshold celebrating the courage it has taken and the creative muscle required to share such tenderness with all of us who are invited into this sacred space of hers.

André Bloodstone Singleton is a Bay Area based multi-disciplinary healing/sacred artist, community educator, curator and death midwife. His work celebrates the African Diaspora and humanity. He is a thread within a fabric of pioneers on a mission to unite people from an abundance of cultural backgrounds through the healing and sacred arts. Continuously enduring the long term side-effects of a terminal illness and embracing his gift of sexuality as a Black gay man in a very anti-Black and homophobic society has empowered Singleton to approach life with a fierce determination to be free and embracing of his truth while listening to others and inspiring others to get and stay free mind, body, heart, Soul and Spirit. Kujichagulia, Kuumba and Umoja are his guiding principles. Singleton’s work continues to inspire courage, pride, and vulnerability, encouraging people all over the world to respect one another so that our communities might remain enriching for us all. He firmly believes in the words of precious and beloved Ancestor Malidoma Patrice Somé that y/our wound is y/our gift.

André Bloodstone Singleton, without question, is the person whom I asked immediately to be my Curator when I was invited to present my work at CCA for a Winter showing. When thinking about the alchemy of an exhibition, who you choose to be the conduit between the Artist, their work and the exhibition space is critical. André embodies everything that this body of work signifies, he is Love incarnate, he is Spiritually connected between realms of Heaven and Earth, he is a Healer and devout Believer in the good of Humanity. I knew that I could trust André with my work and process and be powerfully present with him to receive his words, wisdom, ideas and gentle nudges of encouragement and affirmation. We are collaborators in the deepest and most powerful sense, a Brother and Sister working in tandem, working with Spirit, working to uplift others and bathe them in the presence and radiance of the glow of our love and survival.

André is an Artist in his own right, and to be able to spend precious time with him in Oakland and San Francisco and to dedicate hours and hours of powerfully honest and Earth shaking discourse between us has fortified my life and art practice and created the roots for a wondrous exhibition that radiates sensuality, prowess, self-determination, empowerment, gratitude and freedom. A good Curator puts on a show, a great Curator changes landscapes and André is a man rooted in greatness.

Exhibition reading list, curated by White and Singleton.