Edition of 12
Embroidered thread on Rives BFK paper
36 x 24 in. (91.4 x 61 cm)
Published by Goya Contemporary / Goya-Girl Press
Clar-1071-CO

Sonya Clark: The Huest Eye and The Bluest, Twisted

Sonya Clark’s two editions, The Huest Eye and The Bluest, Twisted, center around the seminal writing of Toni Morrison’s groundbreaking novel The Bluest Eye, published in 1970. The artist has read and reread the book more than thirty times. Utilizing embroidery and lithography techniques, these two stunningly striking editions examine a complex dialogue that centers Blackness in America and redresses society’s constructed ideals of beauty in relation to internalized racism. 

In her writing, Toni Morrison—one of the 20th century’s most influential writers and intellectuals-- challenges the discriminatory, socially constructed myths of Western beauty paradigms which privilege Whiteness above Blackness. The book centers the negative impact these destructive falsehoods have on society and its most vulnerable members.  Set in Lorain, Ohio in the 1940’s, The Bluest Eye tells the story of Pecola Breedlove, a young black child negotiating life and navigating the racism and violence in America while persistently pursuing “beauty.”

Morrison's metaphorical and symbolic use of color in this book is profound, and Clark positions the 473 colors referenced by Toni Morrison into blocks of vibrant, embroidered thread that act as visual stand-ins for each color in the text.  As Clark explains: “In The Huest Eye the colors follow the order in which they appear in the writing. The length of each color block corresponds to the length of the word.  Red is a short block, whereas purple is longer.  I did the green and white together in some places, as this is where Morrison refers to the Dick and Jane stories, which commingle into compressed, unseparated words as the novel progresses.”  Clark goes on to explain that the entire piece “is meant to correspond with The Bluest, Twisted as a solid mass. And of course, if you mixed all those referent colors together, one would arrive at black.”   

“It is key that the colors are embroidered on paper to highlight the relationship between text and textile,” said Clark.  “The Bluest, Twisted connects visual representations of hair, the fiber we grow, to text.  And it is significant that Toni Morrison died the year the CROWN act was written, in 2019.”  The Bluest, Twisted overlays all the pages from The Bluest Eye transliterated into an alphabet (called Twist) that Clark created using her own hair.  The Bluest, Twisted builds upon itself to form a black mass of natural hair that, when framed and glazed, becomes a mirror, and reflects the viewer.  “It is important the viewer sees themselves in this work,” says Clark. “My font, made in curl pattern of African hair, resists the European dominance of the Roman alphabet’s widespread use. Twist re-centers Africa as the cradle of humanity. It returns us to our roots.”  

Published by Goya Contemporary/Goya-Girl Press, and working with one of the most celebrated printmakers in the country, Judith Solodkin of Solo Impression in NY, Clark translates her potent message into meticulously embroidered and printed works that question and bear witness to how we treat each other, and why.

Toni Morrison once said, “If you find a book you really want to read but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”   Morrison was intentional about the stories she gifted the world.   In a similar way, every aspect of Clark’s two works reaches fruition with extreme intentionality to examine epic themes and disrupt the stronghold of discrimination that is reinforced by routine language, customs, actions, and representations.    

Both Morrison’s and Clark’s cultural impact cannot be understated.  Like Morrison, Clark credits her ancestors for impacting the tenor of her work, as well as her navigation through the world.   Clark was deeply impacted by Morrison’s writing and her activism and considers Morrison a heroic figure of truth and justice.

*All quotes taken from a conversation between Sonya Clark and Amy Raehse, October 2023.