And Let It Remain So: Women of the African Diaspora

Hellen Gaudence, from the Magharibi series; Hellen Gaudence, Souverainete, 2017. Archival digital print. Collection of the artist. © Hellen Gaudence, from the Magharibi series.

Jasmine Clarke, Olivia, Looking, 2018. Inkjet print. Collection of the artist. © Jasmine Clarke, from the Shadow of the Palm series.

Nadiya Nacorda, Wearing a doek in Lolo and Lola’s bathroom, 2018. Inkjet print. Collection of the artist. © Nadiya Nacorda, from All the Orchids are Fine series.

Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Kiddie’s Carnival, Trinidad, 2013. Inkjet print. Collection of the artist. ©Sasha Phyars-Burgess, from the THERE (Yankee) series.

Sasha Phyars-Burgess, Hayden’s Daughter, Trinidad, 2013. Inkjet print. Collection of the artist. ©Sasha Phyars-Burgess, from the THERE (Yankee) series.

Widline Cadet, Seremoni Disparisyon #1.20 (Ritual [Dis]Appearance #1.20), 2020. Inkjet print. Collection of the artist. © Widline Cadet, from the Seremoni Disparisyon (Ritual [Dis]Appearance) series.

And Let It Remain So: Women of the African Diaspora at the Phoenix Art Museum brings together the work of five photographers who explore their experiences of the African Diaspora and its influence on their understandings of identity, community, place, and displacement.

Showcasing more than 70 portraits, landscapes, self-portraits, and family archival images, the exhibition presents the nuanced perspectives of five photographers who are exploring their experiences of the African Diaspora, defined by the voluntary and forced movement of Africans and their descendants over centuries through waves of migration and enslavement.

Featured works by Widline Cadet, Jasmine Clarke, Hellen Gaudence, Nadiya I. Nacorda, and Sasha Phyars-Burgess reflect specific locales, general memories, and multilayered family experiences, drawing on elements from the past and present to consider an imagined future. Experienced collectively, these dynamic photographs illuminate shared and separate understandings of family and history, place and displacement, migration and mobility, and belonging and community, all informed by individual diasporic realities.