Guided by my heritage of a love of beauty and a respect for strength–in search of my mother’s garden, I found my own. – Alice Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens” (1972)
ACRE and Blanc Gallery are pleased to present Our Mother’s Gardens, a two-person exhibition of work by Antonia B. Larkin and Jova Lynne that explores personal lore, sonic archives, and sites of remembrance as a source for matrilineal kinship.
In Hope Loops, Jova Lynne posits listening as a means of honoring the memory of those who are no longer with us, showing how aural forms of culture can transfer a memory of Black experience across generations. Drawing upon Black music philosophies including Sun Ra’s writing of “cosmic connection and transmission,” this video, sound, and light installation by Jova Lynne examines the record player as an umbilical cord linking maternal lineages of Black family life.
Antonia B. Larkin’s work creates objects, videos, and spaces that center on Black American womanhood, often considering rest as a form of Black healing, joy, and radical care. For this latest project, Larkin began researching the history of cemeteries, historic lands, and burial practices in Savannah, Georgia, to uncover how Black Americans used plants as markers for the gravesites of enslaved peoples. By training attention on the final resting places of enslaved Black Americans, Larkin’s project links her own search for Black ancestors with historic Southern practices to preserve and commemorate those same lives.
Rather than turning to state-sanctioned official records, textual documents, or official memorials, these works look to the quotidian practices of Black women forebearers as faithful records of the past. In doing so, these artists propose new modes through which to not only recover, but recover from, the tumultuous histories of grief, care, and resilience that define Black womanhood.