Mar 25–Jun 10, 2023

A different kind of tender and the practice of overhealing

Katherine Simóne Reynolds
Address
4 West Burton Place, Chicago IL 60610 Map
Hours
Wed–Sat 11 am–6 pm

In residence at the Madlener House as a Graham Foundation Fellow, Katherine Simóne Reynolds continues her exploration of overhealing from trauma, referencing the creation of a keloid, or hypertropic scar tissue, as an outward representation of healing—a site sensitive to recovery and repair in tandem. Through a new body of work for A different kind of tender and the practice of overhealing, Reynolds looks at the Rust Belt as a kind of keloidal landscape—places in Illinois such as Cairo and Brooklyn, also known as Lovejoy, the first town incorporated by African Americans in the United States in 1873—to reflect on relationships between perceptions of abandonment and fertility, Black female imagination, and different manifestations of healing.

Katherine Simóne Reynolds practice investigates emotional dialects and psychogeographies of Blackness, and the importance of “anti-excellence.” Her work physicalizes emotions and experiences by constructing pieces that include portrait photography, video works, choreography, sculpture, and installation. Taking cues from the midwestern post-industrial melancholic landscape having grown up in the metro east area of Saint Louis, she formed an obsessive curiosity around the practices of healing as well as around a societal notion of progress spurning from a time of industrial success. Utilizing Black embodiment and affect alongside her own personal narrative as a place of departure has made her question her own navigation of ownership, inclusion, and authenticity within a contemporary gaze. She draws inspiration from Black glamour and beauty while interrogating the notion of “authentic care.” Her practice generally deals in Blackness from her own perspective, and she continuously searches for what it means to produce “Black Work.”

Reynolds has exhibited and performed work within many spaces and institutions including the Pulitzer Arts Foundation; The Museum of Modern Art; and SculptureCenter. She has exhibited in national and international group and solo shows, has spoken at the Contemporary Art Museum of Saint Louis, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Black Midwest Initiative Symposium at University of Minnesota. Alongside her visual art practice, she has embarked on curatorial projects at The Luminary; SculptureCenter; and upcoming exhibitions for Stanley Museum of Art as well as Clyfford Still Museum.