“First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” In Partnership with The Children’s Art Carnival & The Colored Girls Museum
First Time I Saw Your Face/CAC + TCGM
NEW YORK – June 2, 2024 – PRLog — WHAT: The intersection of triumph and trauma in Black girlhood is beautifully captured in the portrait project “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” focusing on the classic museum artifact “The Portrait.” This project is a testament to the transformative power of art, seeking to elevate Black girls’ often overlooked and underrepresented experiences into visual monuments. It offers a unique space to see Black girls in their girlhood, as only you, our esteemed artists, can truly portray. The deadline for the competition is June 28 for submission.
Learn more about RFP and submission deadlines:
https://forms.gle/c7sgxijnPaTqtmPEA
WHY: Initiated by The Colored Girls Museum with support from the Knight Foundation, this portrait series is not just about art. It’s about empowerment. It’s about Black girls and women expanding their boundaries, highlighting the inherent tensions and dangers they face, and celebrating their resilience. The project seeks to immortalize ordinary Black girls as monumental figures, and you, our talented artists, are the ones who will bring their stories to life.
WHO: We invite women artists from Harlem, including the surrounding neighborhoods of Inwood, Washington Heights, and South Bronx, who identify as Black (African Diaspora) to select a young Black girl from their neighborhood, aged 7-18, to sit for a commissioned portrait. The selection will be based on the Artist’s portfolio, their understanding of the project’s theme, and their ability to capture the essence of the young Black girl in their work.
WHEN/WHERE: Selected artists will be announced in August 2024 and begin their portraits the same month. Completed portraits, framed and ready for installation, must be delivered to the Children’s Art Carnival Gallery at 62 Hamilton Terrace, New York, NY 10031, by 5 PM on November 9th, 2024.
HOW:
Artists and muses will receive a fee, including supplies for the Artist. The Colored Girls Museum is commissioning these portraits as a work-for-hire contract. This means that while the Artist will retain the copyright to their work, The Colored Girls Museum will have the right to display and reproduce the portraits as part of the ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ portrait series. The Colored Girls Museum will own completed portraits, journals, and video documentation and will become part of the permanent collection of the series.
The ‘First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ portrait project aims to establish Black Girlhood as a triumphant visual event, transforming exhibition walls into contemplation, healing, and remembrance sites. Black Girlhood, in the context of this project, refers to the unique experiences, challenges, and triumphs of young Black girls, and the project seeks to celebrate and honor these experiences through art.