The Women's Work Issue Women's Work. Pen and Brush. 2019 | Page 44

pen + brush x of note 41 Womb , Masque, and Weeping Time embody an assertion of love and a sense of belonging—we are the work, even as the world tries to negate our sense of self. to and a reminder of the largest sale of enslaved people in U.S. history, where over 400 men, women, and children were auctioned off in Georgia in 1857 as the sky mimicked their tears. Taken while Smith was in Atlanta, within the image we see a photograph of Coretta Scott King, the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., in what is possibly the signing of the 1983 bill that made MLK’s birthday a national holiday. Once again, Smith makes past and present merge and emerge. Ming Smith, Masque, Cairo, Egypt, 1992. 35 mm black-and-white photography, archival pigment print, 60 x 40 inches. Courtesy of the artist. 40 Women’s Work Collectively, Womb, Masque, and Weeping Time embody an assertion of love and a sense of belonging—we are the work, even as the world tries to negate our sense of self. This erasure denies our multi-faceted selves and robs the rest of the world from powerful and beautiful possibilities. History, and art history, repeatedly show us how women have been disregarded and continue to be omitted. Through her work, Smith reminds us that our lives are multilayered and complex, and it’s okay if unexpected contradictions live alongside each other. And here, Smith is creator, mother, and photographer. An artist asserting herself—quite literally inserting herself—in ways that confront the invisibility the world has imposed. In these images, the artist is saying: I am here. You can try to not see me, but I belong.