CHICAGO, IL.- Carl Hammer Gallery and Pavel Zoubok Fine Art invite you to Things Are Not Always What They Seem: A Phenomenology of Black Girlhood, a solo exhibition of new work by artist, poet and performer Vanessa German. For this exhibition, German creates a series of power figures that consider the secret lives of black girls in America. These radiant children, richly adorned with accumulations of found objects and glittering embellishments, speak silently and clearly about the over-criminalization of black girls in our school systems. From the over-sexualization of their bodies to the lack of protection and justice for victims of sexual abuse and violence, these powerful works embody a lived experience of growing up black and female in America. But German’s figures stand united and in formation to show the ways in which black girls save their own lives, create their own paths and contend with their power and pain to triumph in a hostile environment. Vanessa German recalls one such instance:

One of the middle school girls stopped by the ARThouse the other day. It was 86 degrees. She was wearing all of her clothes. 2 hoodies. Sweatshirts. Leggings under her uniform pants. We asked her, are you not hot? She shook her head, walked into the ARThouse and sat at the back table. We say to her, perhaps take off some layers, perhaps you will overheat— are you not hot? It turns out, she was saving her own life by wearing all of her clothes to school; the boys film videos of girls they can get into the bathrooms. You open your mouth to say hello, and another boy comes up behind you and shoves something into your mouth; a finger, a set of keys, a combination lock for your locker. It is easier to just not open your mouth. It is safer to just wear all of your clothes, it gives you time to fight.

Vanessa German is a visual and performance artist based in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Homewood. Homewood is the community that is the driving force behind German’s powerful performance work, and whose cast-off relics form the language of her copiously embellished sculptures. As a citizen artist, German explores the power of art and love as a transformative force in the dynamic cultural ecosystem of communities and neighborhoods. She is the founder of Love Front Porch and the ARThouse, a community arts initiative for the children of Homewood. Her work is in private and public collections including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, The Progressive Art Collection, David C. Driskell Center, Snite Museum of Art, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, among others. German’s fine art work has been exhibited widely, most recently at the Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA; Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, GA; the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; the Studio Museum, Harlem, NY; the Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL as well as upcoming solo exhibitions at the Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, MI and the Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA. Her work has been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR’s All Things Considered and in The Huffington Post, O Magazine and Essence Magazine. She is the recipient of the 2015 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant, the 2017 Jacob Lawrence Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the 2018 United States Artist Grant.