MARGARET ROSE VENDRYES
Using the poem “no more love poems #4” (performed by the lady in yellow) as a catalyst, I created My spirit is too ancient to understand the separation of soul & gender - Guro Ntozake in the manner of The African Diva Project. I was inspired by a commercial image of Ntozake Shange at the premier for the film For Colored Girls and envisioned her wearing a dynamic Guro mask (Côte d’Ivoire) in my collection. The background is Indian yellow inscribed with the words of this poem, which speaks to continuity, enlightenment and transformation.
The sawing of the mask in half not only complements the illusion of three-dimensional form in my painting, but speaks to Africa divided in the black American mind as part of us and yet foreign. I recognize here a duality. African Americans can both wear Africa with pride as well as ideologically differentiate ourselves from what it means to be of African descent.