And this is truly the burden of black women. The world tears us down to nothing so we build up these hard exteriors to protect ourselves (which usually manifests as what appears to be unwavering confidence) and are praised for our "strength" but really for how much abuse we can take. And the result of that is people feeling free to treat us any kind of way without remorse because we're expected to handle everything better than other women. We're rarely seen as victims, sympathetic characters, vulnerable, and deserving of affection.

Two Sleeping Cats, 1914, Theophile Steinlen

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson ‘Bursting Shell’, 1915 © Tate

Freud Museum London

Angel Oloshove

bag details @ gcds ss2020

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Karl Gerstner, Polychrome of Pure Colors, 1956-58

When we un-packed it, the Paris curator was embarrassed to discover lipstick marks on its cheek: someone in the Louvre had played at being Pygmalion—or Hadrian—and kissed it. And who could blame them? Up on a pedestal, center stage, the effect of its beauty was jaw-dropping.

Burnt Canvas I, 1973, Joan Miro

https://www.wikiart.org/en/frank-stella/swan-engraving-circle-ii-state-iii-1983