see u shining by Jahi Kijo Lendor

see u shining by Jahi Kijo Lendor, 2023, velvet durag, cotton shirt, two-tone taffeta, woven sweater 40×50 in. approx.

This isn’t a quilt, but it is. Like those women from the South who turned oppression into resistance and liberation; I am not an island, I belong to a multitude, and we get free together. Each separate piece that makes up See U Shining has its own history and how it arrived in my possession. In particular, the black shirt that reads “I’m Broke Baby” was made by my cousin in 2016 which references the 2002 film, Paid in Full and 2016 Kanye West Saint Pablo tour merchandise. Both references convey viral dimensions of today’s culture and history. I’m pulling, combining, and leaving threads (of light) from the past and now for the rest of us to see and pick up when need be. Like those women of Gee’s Bend, Alabama.

Jahi Kijo Lendor (b.1991, Brooklyn, NY) is a Black-Dominican American, NY/NJ-based artist whose work focuses on reflecting on how he sees life and his environment, which translates to a multimelaninated reality of the Black experience. His work has been exhibited in the “Black Biennial” at the RISD Museum in Providence, RI, and at the RISD MFA Painting show “Rota Fortunae” at Field Projects in New York, among others. Lendor graduated with a BFA and a BA from Rutgers University, New Jersey in 2019. He was a Society of Presidential Fellows recipient at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Providence, RI, where he received his MFA in Painting in 2023.