Esmaa Mohamoud

#000000 VIOLENCE

#000000 VIOLENCE is an exhibition that investigates the Black male body in contemporary culture and the (in)tangibility of Blackness through the exploration of athletics—specifically, the sport of basketball. The exhibition seeks to highlight racial and gender tensions in contemporary North American society. By staging symbolic rituals of confrontation referred to as performative violence, I seek to highlight differential power dynamics that ground relations between Blacks and non-Blacks. Through the use of industrial materials—dark, grey, heavy, strong—the exhibition aims to re-examine our contemporary understanding of Blackness and challenge the relationship of Blackness as a colour and shade, and Blackness as a societal or cultural construction of a group of people. The exhibition consists of a series of artworks that culminate in an installation that examines the Black male body’s navigation within contemporary space. Utilizing the visual vernacular of basketball to delineate institutionalized violence, the works explore contemporary notions of Black masculinity. Through the process of repetition and the practice of multiplicity, the works highlight the contemporary struggles of the Black man in North American society.