Exploring the art and life of this important American artist whose work bridged the gaps between abstraction, feminism, and Blackness
Howardena Pindell: Reclaiming Abstraction examines the multifaceted career of artist, activist, curator, and writer Howardena Pindell (b. 1943). It highlights her abstract practice from the late 1960s through the early 1980s-a period in which debates about Black Power, feminism, and modernist abstraction intersected in uniquely contentious yet generative ways. Sarah Louise Cowan not only asserts Pindell's rightful place within the canon but also recenters the canon to reveal the profound and overlooked roles that Black women artists have played in shaping modernist abstraction. Pindell's career acts as a springboard for a broader study of how artists have responded during periods of heightened social activism. Unlike many of her contemporaries, Pindell held that abstraction could convey political urgency. With works that drew on Ghanaian textiles, administrative labor, cosmetics, and postminimalism, Pindell deployed abstraction in deeply personal ways that resonated with collective African diasporic and women's practices. Cowan argues that such work advanced Black feminist modernisms, diverse creative practices that unsettle racist and sexist logics.
