Sonya Clark

hands

In my hands, the hands of my grandmother (who first taught me how to sew) are remembered. I make handmade hands to honor the hands of those in my lineage who worked with their hands. Emmanuel Kant said, “The hands are the visible part of the brain.” Through this work, I give homage to the wisdom of the hands of my ancestors and by extension, to the hands of our collective ancestors. As the Yoruba in Nigeria say, “You use your hands to fashion your character and life.”

“Her inventive use of forms and bright colors make this work a strong statement of cultural identity.”

—Monica Blackmun Visona, Michael Harris, et al
A History of Art in Africa