Here to Stay

Here to Stay

by Yvonne Osei

Exhibition Dates: Through October 2023

Location: Post-Security, Concourse West Wall

Multidisciplinary Artist Yvonne Osei uses both photography and the language of textile design in her installation Here to Stay to celebrate the elegance, ingenuity, strength, and contributions of black women in the United States while also highlighting the importance of community.

The installation features four photographic portraits of African and African American women, including the Artist herself, adorned in garments and placed in environments featuring original textile designs created by Osei. The vibrant designs they wear are based on a collection of public artworks from Laumeier Sculpture Park, one of St. Louis’ treasured open-air museums. Each of these portraits are superimposed onto another landscape of vibrant textiles, patterned with diverse hand gestures. The hands are used as a visual metaphor to connote interconnectivity, influence, collective building, and community.

In Here to Stay, black women are shown taking up space. They are grounded, exuding confidence in the clothes and skin they wear. Although these majestic women are seen as individuals, they are not solitary but interconnected. Each of the women represent pillars that are firmly anchored within a bed of hands. There is a symbiotic exchange of energy at play in each textile pattern that amplifies the figures they adorn. The flow of hands that prop up each portrait, references the support system and community necessary for progress and growth. The installation underscores the importance of individuals, specifically black women, and their contributions to the United States and their community as well as the community’s duty to protect and provide for its own.

Coming from a culture where textiles are a medium for storytelling, the patterns themselves take on a critical role in making what is unfamiliar familiar. All the patterns featured in the installation are inspired by traditional West African textiles and wax print cloths that are commonly worn in the Artist’s home country of Ghana.