
God's Child is an introspective journey into the power and action of belief, as experienced through the lens of diasporic histories and spiritual transcendence. This exhibition explores what it means to believe—not as a passive act of faith but as an intentional, ongoing practice of invocation, reclamation, and connection.
Belief, in this context, is an active "forward thrusting," a concept drawn from the wisdom of Nikki Giovanni. It represents the excellence and innovation of spirited beings within Indigenous and African diasporas, who have historically harnessed belief as a force to imagine and create beyond the physical constraints imposed upon them. God's Child interrogates the audacity of belief in the face of erasure and oppression through a series of works inspired by these diasporas' profound spiritual practices.
The exhibition poses fundamental questions: What does it take to believe a book of Psalms can shield you from evil? To trust that bags of herbs, blood, bones, soil, and oils could liberate entire nations of people? These questions highlight belief as an act of defiance, connection, and co-creation with powers greater than oneself and inherently within. The works challenge visitors to consider the symbiosis of belief: what it means to see oneself as part of the divine, as much as the divine is part of them.
God's Child underscores the unique power of belief within the African diaspora—a power not born merely of resilience but of deep knowing. This is not a romanticization of suffering but a recognition of the generational strength it takes to believe in a world beyond the one inherited. This is in reverence to our ancestral spirits, who chose to continue their own research and development. The ones whose technology and science were an act of survival, curiosity, and transcendence.
With God's Child, I invite viewers to reflect on the layers of belief and their relationships with faith, power, and selfhood. Can belief be separated from action, or is it inherently a practice of creating and embodying something greater? The exhibition does not prescribe answers but leaves space for viewers to navigate their interpretations, asking one central question: What does it mean to believe in something that is as much a part of you as you are of it?
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