“Great art does not happen in a vacuum. It happens within communities.”
Columbus-based artist April Sunami says she is the person and artist she is today because of her family and the community that helped her along the way. Now she’s saying thanks in an exhibition of new artworks.
I Am Because You/We Are is an homage to family, friends and fellow artists featuring debut showings of mixed-media works Sunami created to celebrate her late mother’s life. Works by 20 members of Creative Women of Color, a Columbus-based collective of women artists who inspired Sunami’s career, are also on display. The exhibition is on view through March 13 at the McConnell Arts Center of Worthington.
“(Sunami) has a beautiful, vibrant style with bold colors and an exceptional use of mixed media,” said Michelle Tavenner, director of artistic programming and education at the McConnell Arts Center. “And the depth of herself, her history, her mother and the women who have inspired her really comes through. It’s a beautiful tribute to her mother and to the strength and resilience of all women.”
Sunami created all of her works in the exhibition while grieving her mother’s death in 2022. The grieving process led her to celebrate her mother’s life and the lives of all the women who have encouraged and supported her. Creative Women of Color, which began as Sisters of the Arts, was one of the first artist collectives with which Sunami exhibited her work – an experience she says was formative for her.
“When I think about that phrase – I am because you are – it is my mother, but it’s the sum of a lot of people who really made me who I am,” Sunami said. “It felt right to make this show not only about my mom, but I think a lot about my sisters. I think about my aunts, cousins, nieces, of course my own children and the legacy of all those people who’ve shaped me, so it felt right to include them.”
New works in Sunami’s signature “psycheñwelic” style form the nucleus of I Am Because You/We Are. Named after “psyche” – the Greek word for mind and spirit – and “ñwele” – the Swahili word for hair, Sunami’s psycheñwelic works feature striking designs of female figures with added media, like glass, shells and found objects, that emphasize the figures’ hair and body coverings.
Some of Sunami’s works in new creative veins are also on display. Sunami’s first video collage, I See You in the Small Things, explores the theme of connection in video snippets of Sunami in the kitchen with her family.
“There are specific moments that refer to things that make me think about my mom and just what she passes on to my kids,” Sunami said. “There are these small, mundane moments in life that tie us back to somebody.”
I Come From … incorporates photographs into a collage of paper and embedded objects. Sunami says this work represents a departure from her usual approach to the collage medium.
“When I’m thinking about a celebration of my mother and my family, one naturally will turn to a photo album or photos and reminisce. So that’s kind of the genesis of it, just really remixing family photos into something new,” Sunami said.
Also on display are paintings, ceramics, fiber artworks and mixed media works by artists of Creative Women of Color – Freda Abbott-Ayodele, Nicki Burton, Michol Childress, Barb Clark, Lisa Cliff, Kenya Davis, Janet George, T Graves, Lyn Logan-Grimes, Pepper Johnson, Lisa McLymont, Nora Musa, Molly Mustaqueem, Gaye Reissland, Antoinette Savage, Melissa Smith, Teri Thomas, Beryl K. Thompson, Kathy Watts and Merele Wilder.
Sunami may be in the spotlight in I Am Because You/We Are, but she says the exhibition is much more than a solo show.
“It’s really a love letter to connection and just being a part of something bigger than me.”
I am Because You/We Are is on view Jan. 11- March 13, 2024 at the McConnell Arts Center of Worthington.
