Artist Statement: Claudia Alick’s “Black Superwoman” began as an exercise and became something more than the concept. The blends of vibrant colors, diversity of Black femme faces and choices of texture all carry powerful messages. She chose bright colors like red, white, and blue, and expanded by adding oranges and purple. It was meant to reference patriotic pallets as well as African-american styles and feminine iconography. In the art, there are lots of different hairstyles and head coverings that Black women wear. “Black Superwoman” isn’t just about looking at it; it’s about thinking. The animation is designed to be paused to contemplate specific images. Timing of the animation is meant to allow you to see how we are all connected but also individuals. Claudia Alick’s piece is an invitation to contemplate the Black Superwoman and choose one that speaks to you.
Selected Image Gallery
Process Statement: Claudia Alick had begun painting but was losing function in her hands. She loved painting but also couldn’t stand at her canvas. She began exploring artificial intelligence platforms to explore their ethical impacts on cultural producing. She quickly began discovering applications for disability accessibility. This project began with a vision of an animation that reflected a diversity of amazing black superwoman who were feminine and strong. She drew a rough outline which she fed into a generator. She made a few edits to this image in a photo editing platform. Then she fed this through engines with different iterations of prompts . Then she fed a select number of images into a video editing platform creating an animation that you can pause to see different images. Claudia is planning to create wallpaper from these images for a future exhibit.