Connie Fleming’s Exhibition is About Embracing Universal Beauty
The pandemic has been powerful — I perceive that this isn’t a sizzling take. Heightened anxieties, isolation and really actual tragedies have made the final 18 months particularly bleak. Turning away from all of that to as a substitute recognize and radiate magnificence is a tremendously troublesome feat, however it’s precisely what Connie Fleming has completed together with her newest undertaking, an art work exhibition titled Ink.
Whereas she is most well-known for her work on the runway as a mannequin within the ‘90s and early 2000s, Connie started drawing at a younger age, “Being a trans child was tremendous exhausting, it was violent each verbally and bodily. However drawing was one thing I used to be rewarded for and it gave me hope for the longer term,” she defined.
The exhibition is featured at By no means Aside’s artwork gallery in Montreal and might be on show till December 18. These unable to journey to Montreal can tour the gallery just about on By no means Aside’s web site.
By no means Aside is a non-profit group that goals to teach people on equality and social actions by highlighting artwork and music from a various group of artists.
Impressed by the work of Antonio Lopez, George Stavrinos and George Petty, amongst others, Connie has drawn quite a lot of black and white portraits and figures for this assortment. Some topics are featured with their pure hair, others with durags and almost all of them are closely tattooed.
“Hopefully that is a part of the development of society,” she stated, “now that the fantastic thing about African options and hair is de facto being seen and never simply pawned off instantly as unprofessional or ugly.”
When did you first start illustrating?
It was at all times part of my life. I bear in mind even earlier than first grade I used to be at all times drawing. After I was little in Jamaica my mother was a educating assistant and after I was two or three she taught me how one can write my identify and my numbers and I used to be obsessed. I at all times had a pencil in my hand, I used to be at all times doodling and drawing. Illustration has remained [into adulthood] my solace, and is a secure area for me.
What was it like making artwork in the course of the pandemic?
It actually saved me from going loopy. It saved me from falling into TikTok and Youtube rabbit holes. I had already seen every little thing on Netflix and I simply felt an atrophy in my physique and my thoughts. I wanted to get out and do one thing.
How did the pandemic encourage this exhibition?
A extremely good pal handed in the course of the pandemic, Nashom Picket aka Mona Foot, after which I had one other pal who handed as effectively, and between that and the each day COVID dying tolls it was actually dragging down my spirit. I felt actually drained by the concept of connecting by means of dying and I needed to contribute some magnificence to the world. So I began to publish my artwork on-line and I obtained a very nice response. I used to be like, “Let me simply hold placing out some magnificence and life into the world,” and that turned the path. I by no means anticipated it to show into something.
Why did you select to make use of a largely black and white color palette for these illustrations?
I needed to get that tonal richness that you would be able to get from black and white. Like movie noir, that form of high quality. I additionally actually needed to get the depth of African American pores and skin with out utilizing color, to point out how mild performed off black pores and skin.
I discover that most of the topics in your items have tattoos, what was the inspiration behind that?
With the political ambiance with George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter motion I used to be seeing Black our bodies being criminalized and I needed to point out the sweetness as a substitute. I needed to point out that tattoos aren’t about being a thug or a legal, however that it’s about expression. It’s virtually such as you get to be your personal private billboard.
However I additionally needed to honour the historical past of tattooing as a result of it connects us all in a means. As we speak we could also be immersed in know-how with our telephones at all times in our fingers however we nonetheless want human connection. To start with tattoos have been symbolism, whether or not it was your tribe, or faith or a ceremony of passage, it was an emblem that we have been all a part of humanity. I feel these aesthetic expressions are vital.
What would you say you’re most pleased with from this complete course of?
Two issues, first is highlighting the fantastic thing about African and Black options and second is pushing myself as an artist and actually honing my craft. I need to pat myself on the again, I discovered that I’ve the power to create and mould, a bit like a few of my heroes — however don’t inform anyone I ever stated that!
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