Black Girl Fight Club: Chrysalis

"Chrysalis" represents the culmination of Black Girl Fight Club's unwavering commitment to amplifying the voices and talents of black artists, challenging the confines of conventional artistry, and elevating marginalized voices to the forefront of artistic discourse. This is the third installment of a short exhibition staged by Black Girl Fight Club; the previous two were at other locations throughout New York City. 

Drawing inspiration from the delicate yet protective cocoon of a chrysalis, transformation symbolizes the thematic essence of this group exhibition. Chrysalis exhibits a collection of paintings, sculptures, photographs, and textile works that call to the delicate yet necessary acts of transition, growth, and honoring oneself. As a butterfly emerges from the hard yet beautiful shell that is a chrysalis, it is said to be transformed anew; sprouting wings that were waiting to be realized. Black Girl Fight Club focuses on the power of the chrysalis as it encases creativity that allows for the caterpillar to grow.

In the ethereal realm where art and introspection intertwine, Black Girl Fight Club proudly invites you to immerse yourself in the transformative beauty of "Chrysalis." Join Black Girl Fight Club as this exhibit performs as a sanctuary and chrysalis, holding the works of these artists together in space, with the promise of emergence, transformation, and beauty to be found in each work, each artist, and each viewer. Black Girl Fight Club, as young femme people and artists, seeks refuge amidst the chaos, embracing the perpetual dance of growth and rebirth. In a wide range of mediums, traverse the sacred terrain of our collective metamorphosis. 

"Chrysalis" unveils a kaleidoscope of interpretations, each a testament to the myriad facets of personal evolution. With the themes of growth, transition, transformation, shelter, growth, and rebirth in mind, Black Girl Fight Club invites the following fourteen extraordinary Black women and non-binary artists to explore these ideas. Black Girl Fight Club welcomes Jonelle Austin, Maya Beverly, Odessa Bubblegum, Melinda Griffith, Rhianydd Hylton, Traci Johnson, Audrey Lyall, Emily Manwaring, Isis Davis-Marks, Gabrielle Narcisse, Kilo Nesbitt, Ashley Peña, Precious Star, and Siobhan An Jie Russel Wood.

Jonelle Austin
Jonelle Austin is a Queer Guyanese-born practicing artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is fluid and surreal, encompassing forms of portraiture of ancestors, those she holds close as well as her own figure. From alligators, jaguars to hassa fish, she uses animals native to the Guyana jungle to act as symbols of guiding spirits and/or reflections of said figures. Through storytelling, collective memory, and alternative forms of secret language, her works are empowered to connect with the past, reflect on the present, and place itself in a space of translation with 'future'.

Maya Beverly
Maya Beverly is a multidisciplinary artist from Macon, Georgia, whose work is currently centered around sculpture and ceramics. In 2020, she received her BFA from New York University in Studio Art. Her work has been shown in exhibitions throughout the United States including, New York, California, and Washington, D.C. and internationally in the United Kingdom and Mexico. She has held residencies at Women’s Studio Workshop, The Archie Bray Foundation and Township10. She is currently based in New York City. 

Odessa Bubblegum
Odessa Whitlock, aka Odessa Bubblegum, is a multidisciplinary Queer Afro-Caribbean artist raised in Antigua and now based in New Jersey. Their creations are vibrant and lighthearted expressions of how they challenge themself to interpret the world beyond the confines of racial capitalism. Rather than commodifying the experience, they celebrate the joy, the grief, the uncertainty, all of it. Bubblegum mixes media to create multidimensional collages that incorporate the use of oil, acrylic, oil pastels, sharpie, markers, paper cutouts, and textiles. Additionally, they recycle their hair braiding extensions to create sculptures. These sculptures affirm the notion of “sustainability” that can not be separated from their cultural identity as a low-income Afro-Caribbean artist. They are carrying on the tradition of repurposing materials to create functional pieces.

Melinda Griffith
Melinda is a left-handed folk artist from Bed-Stuy that creates work inspired by Black Americana, and other representations of Blackness that were not created by, or necessarily for Black people. In her free time, she can be found rummaging through the depths of eBay, two-stepping to Rocksteady & practicing jiu-jitsu. 

Rhianydd Hylton 
Rhianydd Hylton is a Brooklyn-based photographer and visual artist whose work explores conceptualizations of beauty and identity. By expanding her practice into cyanotypes, she intertwines her thoughts and images with new materials, exploring many manifestations of connection across different mediums.

Traci Johnson
Traci Johnson, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is an artist whose creative journey is an exploration of textile design, installation, and sculpture. Their work is a testament to the intersection of mental health, art, and the therapeutic facets of fashion subcultures. Through their art, Traci shapes a nurturing sanctuary for themselves and their audience, a safe space where emotions can freely unfold. Traci's inspiration flows from a profound connection to the human experience, particularly the soothing of the mind, soul, and body amidst life's trials. As they discover personal paths to comfort, their art takes on a tranquil, euphoric quality, inviting viewers to share in this therapeutic voyage. Traci boldly infuses their essence into their creations, aiming to evoke euphoria and vibrancy through the harmonious interplay of colors and forms.

Audrey Lyall
Audrey Lyall is an interdisciplinary artist from Corte Madera, California currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. Lyall’s work explores the intersections of beauty standards, celebrity culture, and surveillance through the use of collage and found objects. 

Emily Manwaring
Emily Manwaring was born in Queens, New York. Emily attended The Cooper Union to receive her BFA in Fine Art. Following her graduation she has been featured in galleries and shows such as New Image (Los Angeles), CANADA, Swivel Gallery, Cierra Britton Gallery (New York City), and Venice Biennale (Italy) to name a few. She has also been featured in articles for Artnet, JUXTAPOZ, It’s Nice That, ArtDaily, Office Magazine, and The New Yorker. 

Isis Davis-Marks
Isis Davis-Marks is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and writer based in New York City. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally in venues including the Yale School of Art, the Spring/ Break Art Show, and Prizm Art Fair. Her articles have been published in Smithsonian Magazine, Cultured Magazine, Artsy, Frieze, TheArt Newspaper, Hyperallergic, and Elsewhere.

Gabrielle Narcisse
Gabrielle Narcisse is a multi-disciplinary visual and performing artist born and raised in New Jersey, now based in New York City. Her current practice utilizes antique mirrors as a base from which to construct sculptural forms, informed by her lived traumatic experiences, experimenting with materials such as undergarments, hosiery, rope, twine, and wire. Her use of mirrors inherently forces the audience to participate in the work by confronting their own reflection. Art has aided in Narcisse’s continuing healing process. Through the work, Narcisse reclaims her narrative and turns darkness into something that gives her strength. 

Kilo Nesbitt
Kilo Nesbitt, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York around heavy Trinidadian culture is a multidisciplinary artist. Her work consists of rugs, sculptures and digital collages. Fueled by her passion for emotional connections and releases through art, she looks to patterns, textures and materials in nature to channel her innermost feelings. Nesbitt's work often includes elements of nature and spirituality, suggesting a connection between the natural world and the “ugly” phases of life. Her work could be described as eclectic, dreamlike and deeply personal by the way it takes on a life of its own and develops new meanings as she grows. She deeply cares about creating a space for not only herself, but specifically black women to release and connect through art. Art has allowed her to keep a timeline of healing and mourning and falling and living that help to guide her through discerning all of life's lessons.

Ashley Peña
Ashley Peña is a Dominican-American artist originally from Maryland and has lived and worked in New York as an image-maker for the past four years. She is now currently studying to obtain her Bachelors of Fine art degree at New York University, Tisch school of the arts. Known for being up-close and intimate, Ashley uses her lens to document and tell stories throughout her images. With a primary focus on subjects across the diaspora, she explores how vulnerability looks like privately versus publicly. Her work also centers on exhibiting relationships and love within the community while also communicating the nuances of Black culture for a sense of familiarity and comfort. To have people in her community see themselves within the images and outside of Eurocentric standards of beauty and being seen as worthy, desirable and sacred. Some of her select clients include Apple, Jordan, The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Cut, Vogue US, GQ and Allure. 

Precious Star
Precious Star is a Nigerian-American artist from Wanaque, New Jersey. Currently, she’s in her undergrad at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson studying Anthropology and Studio Arts. Through her practice of mainly self-portraiture, she is consistently navigating her own identity and its place (or lack thereof) in the world around her. Nostalgia, black adolescence, sexuality, intimacy and self-image are major themes throughout her work. As a newer artist, she experiments with all sorts of mediums ranging from oil, gouache, crayon, graphite, wood, and metal. She thinks it’s important to draw from her own past experiences, but also past fantasies to help craft a more beautiful and enticing future.

Siobhan An Jie Russell Wood
Siobhan An Jie Russell Wood is a photographer, sculptor, plus-sized model, ex-fashion assistant, video maker, and poet. Her multi-disciplinary studio practice is informed by these experiences. She works in a highly mediated collaged process that mimics the way information is thrown at us and only some of it sticks. Siobhan reckons with her daily insertions into foreign social and racial contexts. Her bloodline is a product of displacement because of British and Dutch Colonial rule in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand. She looks into her imperialist trade histories to examine the commodified ‘Other’ and representations of diaspora 'culture' within Western society and media. Her work is a material rendering of cultural abstraction, the scar tissue of diaspora. An ongoing study and appropriation of the process of ‘cultural abstraction’ that she believes her own mixed ethnicity/class body has been through.

Black Girl Fight Club (BGFC) is a community organization that provides empowering experiences for black women, throughout New York City, fostering joy and a sense of community. BGFC stands as a beacon of empowerment, celebrating the creativity of black womanhood, and continuously fosters a sense of belonging within its community.