Solace in What Remains: Ashante Kindle

4 October - 23 November 2024
Overview
Solace in What Remains, Ashante Kindle
Johnson Lowe Gallery is pleased to present its second Project Space exhibition with Ashante Kindle, Solace in What Remains. Opening on October 4th, with a reception from 6-9 pm, and coinciding with the exhibitions of Cosmo Whyte's The Sea Urchin Can't Swim: Tales from the Edge of a World and Fahamu Pecou's They Didn't Realize We Were Seeds: We The Roses, this intimate presentation of Kindle’s work challenges notions of Black hair as merely an aesthetic and looks at its function as a deep well of history, autonomy, and resilience.
 
Solace in What Remains is an exploration of material transformation and the cultural significance of Black hair—its textures, history, and rituals—serving as its bedrock. This exhibition presents two interrelated bodies of work that deepen the engagement with a phenomenon central to African and African diasporic cultures—hair as a ritualistic, intimate, and symbolically rich site of where community and individual identity converge. Kindle employs a macro/micro analytical approach, wherein hair coloring is conceptualized as an expansive chromatic field, and the S curl is reimagined as a petri dish, presenting an assortment of puesdomolecular hair adornments.
 
At the heart of the exhibition are three circular tondos from the artist's Stain Painting series, rendered in acrylic and hair dye. These ethereal, chromatic landscapes, shaped by their circular forms, evoke the head or crown—a potent symbol of authority, dignity, and identity. The repurposed stretchers and the use of hair dye emerged during Kindle’s fellowship with NXTHVN (2022-2023), where she began incorporating hair dyes from the infamous Dark & Lovely brand, a product line from L'Oreal marketed to black women. With evocative names like Red Hot Rhythm, Honey Blonde, and Poppin Pink, these dyes transcend their material origins, turning these works into sites of transformation, renewal, and aspiration.
 
In contrast, the Dark & Lovely series features densely textured black tondos that celebrate the culture and adornment of Black hair. Through materials such as satin, hair bows, barrettes, and styling strips, these pieces highlight the intricate rituals of Black hair care. The layering of acrylic creates tactile surfaces that elevate these objects—traditionally associated with beauty, protection, and care—into a celebration of identity and pride.
 
The tension between the colorful, atmospheric stain paintings and the heavily textured black tondos creates a dialogue about the many ways Black hair can be represented and honored—whether through soft expanses of color or through rich, tactile layers. Both approaches explore the depth of history, identity, and beauty embedded in Black hair, bringing to light its profound cultural and personal significance.



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