Artist Howardena Pindell Unveils New Exhibition on Racial Injustice
The Shed
Presenting her first video in 25 years, 77-year old Howardena Pindell’s new solo exhibition Rope/Fire/Water examines the history of violence and racist attacks in the U.S through her personal experiences. After closing on March 13, the Shed in Hudson Yards, New York, welcomed back visitors with the announcement of Pindell’s exhibition, which will offer free admission through October 31.
“We are very honored to produce and present Howardena Pindell’s powerful and timely work as we are reopening our exhibition this fall, and to have commissioned her unrealized project of 50 years, Rope/Fire/Water,” said Alex Poots, The Shed’s Artistic Director and CEO. “When we started planning an exhibition with Pindell in 2017, we could not have foreseen its resonance with this summer’s profound call to dismantle systemic racism and to establish equality for Black lives.”
After studying painting at Boston and Yale University, Pindell would spend 12 years in the curatorial department at the Museum of Modern Art before she quit her job to teach at the State University of New York, Stony Brook in 1979. It took a car accident that left the artist with a dent in her head, a hip injury, and short term memory loss that sparked an epiphany. Pindell’s accident led to her desire to voice her opinions on political and social issues that people deemed unfitting for the art community. Some of these pieces included Free, White, and 21 and Separate But Equal Genocide: AIDS.
Although she was used to working on large scale abstract paintings, Pindell pitched the idea of a performance piece called Rope/Fire/Water in the 1970s. Originally proposed to white female artists, the idea was rejected due to their reluctance to be involved in racial issues. Now many years later, the Shed gave Pindell the opportunity to illustrate the history of white supremacy and violence in the U.S through a video essay. Displaying archival photos of lynchings and nonviolent protests, Pindell narrates the 19-minute video using some of her own experiences as a black woman living in the U.S.
In addition to the Rope/Fire/Water exhibition, Pindell also created two new pieces named Columbus and Four Little Girls, which brings light to people impacted by race-based violence. Abstract work using textured canvases, the Plankton Lace #1 was also added to the lineup. Working together to educate the public on racial violence, Pindell’s exhibition in the Shed offers a sense of hope.
“As a Black American woman, I draw on my experience as I have lived it and not as others wish to perceive my living it as fictionalized in the media and so-called ‘history’ books,” Pindell wrote for a 1980 show at A.I.R. Gallery.