The [Black] Madonna/Whore Complex

Qualeasha Wood

2021 · Jacquard-woven cotton, glass beads · Photographs

In a brash mashup of Catholic iconography and webcam voyeurism, Qualeasha Wood has woven an online avatar that offers one-click salvation. Bearing stigmata and a Sacred Heart, this "young hot ebony" presides over access to the camera responsible for the glitchy, screenshot selfies behind her. By presenting herself as both holy icon and object of desire, Wood rejects the racist, sexist stereotype that views Black women solely as promiscuous commodities; she accomplishes this move by enshrining and controlling her own image. Beyond the haloed portrait, which reads as both religious tondo and gilt mirror, Wood can be seen snapping selfies and selecting thumbnails: "If I’m going to get fetishized out here," she says, "I’m going to fetishize myself." For Wood, self-reference is self-reverence.

Artist

Qualeasha Wood

Date

2021

Medium

Jacquard-woven cotton, glass beads

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Funds from various donors, in memory of Randie Malinsky, 2022