For the exhibition In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, We Made Armor, artist and curator Mahari Chabwera creates a sanctuary site for Black womxn artists to honor their ancestors and honor and care for themselves, a safe place to make and show work, to be vulnerable, to be glorious, to heal, to grow, to dream. Mahari has gathered a group of 6 Black womxn artists who are each exploring the tension between protection and vulnerability, who are embracing the opportunity to be seen as artists in this cultural moment while also being thoughtful about what is seen and who will control those images. In this freedom-sharing, sanctuary-making exhibition, Mahari Chabwera shows that art as liberatory, magic medicine-making is a way to mend trauma and replace it with something that is rooted in freedom and an ethic of love.

In Search of Other Mothers' Gardens, We Made Armor

LookSEE is an online forum dedicated to the visual arts in Richmond,Virginia. We aim to inspire the art curious with a window into artistic process, work, and philosophy. Paige Goodpasture hosts the LookSEE podcast and is a freelance audio producer, an art lover, and a lifelong Richmonder. Her favorite place to be is in a museum. A close second is a bookstore.