Nefertiti, 2021

Glazed porcelain, luster

The artist describes this as the “curly line in the round; the micro becomes macro; tangible things”

REFLECTION

“After decades of teaching Egyptology to my archaeology students, I look at this piece and see the heads of serpents rising from the curving lines. The head of a rearing snake (the uraeus) was a powerful symbol, most often seen on the front of a ruler’s crown. Thus, for me, this piece challenges us to consider female leadership and identity and consider interlocking stories of African history, women’s lives, and female roles in the past and present.”

Lynn Rainville

Director of Institutional History and Museums

Professor of Anthropology

The Root of the Matter features the contemporary art of Sharon Norwood, a transnational conceptual artist of Jamaican descent.

Using a variety of media, Norwood provokes frank discussion about race and difference. She explores complex issues of identity and cultural relationships using the deceptively simple element of line, which stands on its own as an artistic device and also as a metaphor for the female Black body, especially hair. By applying lines to found objects such as ceramic tea services and 19th century fashion prints, the artist disrupts pervading historical narratives and provides an alternate artistic context for viewers to contemplate,

Norwood received a BFA in Painting from the University of South Florida and an MFA in Studio Art from Florida State University. She has exhibited internationally and, in 2019, became a Joan Mitchell foundation grant nominee. The artist maintains a studio in Savannah, Georgia.

Fruit, 2020

Modular Site-Specific Installation: Ceramic Glazed porcelain, overglaze luster, silver tray, plastic grapes

Sharon’s notes: Form texture, scale, process.. time spent with the line "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropoland recorded by Billie Holidayin 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black Americanswith lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United Statesat the turn of the 20th century, and the great majority of victims were black.[2]The song has been called "a declaration" and "the beginning of the civil rights movement".[3]

Meeropol set his lyrics to music with his wife and the singer Laura Duncanand performed it as a protest songin New York City venues in the late 1930s, including Madison Square Garden. Holiday's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Famein 1978.[4]It was also included in the "Songs of the Century" list of the Recording Industry of America and the National Endowment for the Arts.[5]In 2002, "Strange Fruit" was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress[6]as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".

REFLECTION

Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees “The beauty of Billie Holiday’s ‘Strange Fruit’ is the distanced yet haunting way in which she is able to portray the lived experience Black People have had with lynching. Sharon Norwood’s piece “Fruit” captures this tragedy with the same level of elegance and realistic detail. The artful placement of Black heads with coiled hair perfectly corresponds to the haunting melodies of Holiday’s iconic song and the complex landscape of grappling with such suffering in the present time.

Amber M. Morrison

Washington and LeeUniversity '23

Pre-Law

Cognitive and Behavioral Science Major,

Africana Studies Minor

President, SABU

Important Matters

Work created between September 15th and September 27th 2020, a period filled with the most incredulous of disappointments and heartaches. White Embroidered cotton thread on black cloth napkin. Courtesy of....

Sharon’s NOTES: Fear.... I remember wanting to protest, wanting to get out and walk in unison with other protestors... I was painfully aware of the danger, for myself, my partner as black bodies in a country with a history of violence against bodies like mine. Would we befollowed if we attended the protests, become targets if we placed signs on our lawn? Would it make it unsafe to be in our homes? This thought wore on me constantly as I weighed the risks of adopting a Black Lives Matter Sign.. the work allowed me a way in, a way to participate in a safe space. A way to unpack, a way to protest.

REFLECTION

Sharon Norwood’s Black Lives Matter embroidery piece is almost electric, pulsing energy from every stitch. I was initially drawn to the piece when I saw a photo because of my familiarity with textiles and fiber art, but a photograph cannot do this piece justice. The stitches creating negative space letters and then filling in the letters themselves called to my fingers to feel the texture and the depth of the work. The everyday nature of the cloth napkin background combined with each carefully placed stitch invites people to make their own art and exists as a reminder that needlework is accessible for anyone with some cloth, a needle, and thread.

Paula S. Kiser

Assistant Professor and Digital Scholarship Librarian, University Library

New Spelling of My Name from Hair Matters series, 2018

Fired decal drawing on vintage china

The Root of the Matter series: I, III, IV, V, XI Digital Collage on Watercolor paper, with imagery sourced from the MET 1840’s digital collection

According to the artist Sharon Norwood, “The Root of The Matter” investigates past stories, spaces and histories “in order to challenge passive notions of looking. The series aims to question historical constructed identity and explore the intersection of race and beauty. Ultimately the work aims to investigate my own thoughts and questions about hair, race and culture.”

REFLECTION

“Norwood’s Root of the Matter collection is political and personal to me as a Sudanese American woman. The original 1840’s images present a Eurocentric and elitist dichotomy between what is acceptable—whiteness—and what is attainable/desirable. Norwood refuses to relegate Blackness and its natural beauty to an invisible and undesirable place. Instead, she disrupts these “ideal” images with layers of beautiful curls, and that disruption is palpable! By intentionally agitating the conditioned gaze, she challenges the normalization of European beauty standards and forces you to recognize the continued dehumanization and devaluation of Blackness, Black womanhood, and Black hair.”

IsraEl-Beshir

Associate Director, Museums at W&L

The Root of the Matter V, 2016

Digital Collageon watercolor paper (Edition of 10)

The Root Of The Matter” investigates past stories, spaces and histories, in order to challenge passive notions of looking.

Imagery is sourced from the MET 1840’s digital collection and aims to question historical constructed identity and explore the intersection of race and beauty.

Ultimately the work aims to investigate my own thoughts and questions about hair, race and culture.

Student Curator Statement

SharonNorwood’s body of work is a beautiful demonstration of the interplay between art and activism.

Norwood uses the curly line to express herself artistically and to represent her interactions with social,cultural,and political content as they relate to Black womanhood and,more specifically, hair.

Just as her work reflects her identities as an artist and as a Black woman, Norwood urges us to reflect on our own identities as well. Her art weaves a narrative between history and contemporary events and between personal reflections and societal expectations that takes on a living form through which we are able to gain an understanding of socially constructed issues relating to race,gender,and beauty.

Norwood uses a variety of mediums to tell different stories,so we should not be constrained to any one interpretation. In viewing her works,we can learn and grow from them while enjoying creative,aesthetic art.

Ayomiposi Oluwakuyide

Class of 2024