This exhibition displays stories about whiteness that were muted and invisible to me during my childhood. I have come to know this invisibility as “white silence.” It is a manifestation of white supremacy culture, which includes values, behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs that uphold racial hierarchy and are inherently oppressive and violent. After excavating and naming, what remains of white silence? What is possible?
These napkins originally belonged to my grandmother. The textile remnants that you see in the front of the gallery include my reflections about white supremacy culture, and how I have internalized it. Along with the workshops that accompany this show, and the artworks I hope you will create from the napkins provided, they also embody my hopes for creating future family traditions of anti-racist resistance.
Maybe my stories will create room for you to decode and consider your own experiences with, and efforts to interrupt, inherited racial trauma and white supremacy culture. While I created this project through the lens of my experience with whiteness, I realize the stories connect to many other layers of identity. Honoring the complexities of identity is a form of resistance.
The ideas incorporated and synthesized in this exhibition are deeply influenced by Black, Brown, and Indigenous activists, thinkers, writers and artists, who are friends and colleagues, and who have taught me through their written words, trainings, and conversations.