Tanekeya Word
As an artist, I work within series and studies as it allows me to extensively explore techniques and questions within my body of work. During the quadruple pandemic (2020): COVID-19, the uproar of institutionalized racism and state sanctioned violence on Black and Brown bodies, a declining economy, and natural disasters, I began a Black material culture study with combs. The comb has symbolized beauty, care and has diagnosed many Black women as tender headed or heavy handed. I needed a praxis of care to live in during intense turmoil and the grief of losing a daughter in utero, Avery Rose, during the pandemic. I decided upon relief print lino-cut. Within my thought process, I believed that the act of carving the linoleum block would link my hand’s rememory to that of ancestors possibly carving a woodblock for traditional African combs. African combs are given in celebration and to mark an end, this duality of giving in times of joy or grief is an exploration of the continuity in caring for ourselves and others through the ebb and flow of life.


to know each other's languages are our own

Tender a sisterhood anthem (Bside) fig. 006

Tender a sisterhood anthem (Bside) fig. 014

Tender- a sisterhood anthem (B-side) fig005

Press
A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking to Open at Claire Oliver Gallery
Gotham To Go
January 24, 2022

Press
A Contemporary Black Matriarchal Lineage in Printmaking at Claire Oliver Gallery
Whitehot Magazine
March 1, 2022

Press
Thoughts on Tanekeya Word’s Black Women of Print at Claire Oliver Gallery
artblog
March 2, 2022