Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and the Houston Museum of African American Culture (HMAAC) are pleased to co-present Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other, a major exhibition of the pioneering fiber artist that showcases her large-scale, community-centered and participatory projects, including The Beaded Prayers Project (1998-ongoing), The Hair Craft Project (2014), and the Monumental Cloth series (2019).

The Houston presentation of We Are Each Other, hosted within both HCCC’s and HMAAC’s galleries, extends the traveling exhibition’s tour, which was co-organized by the Cranbrook Art Museum, the High Museum of Art, and the Museum of Art and Design. Clark’s work centers on race and Black experience, and the exhibition is rooted in both audience and context, as each organizing institution is located in American cities with substantial populations of residents with a lineage to the African diaspora, and each is dedicated to celebrating and collecting contemporary art and craft traditions.

Clark is acclaimed for using everyday fiber materials, such as hair, flags, and found fabric, as well as a range of textile techniques–including weaving, braiding, quilting, and beading–to examine issues of history, racial injustice, cultural legacies, and reconciliation. We Are Each Other shows how her community-centered projects facilitate new collective encounters across racial, gender, and socioeconomic divisions. In addition to her large-scale installations, the exhibition features a range of her photographs, prints, and sculpture.

Header image: Sonya Clark, “Writer Type (Pen and Sword)” 2016. Remington Noiseless 7 typewriter and artist’s hair. Photo credit: Taylor Dabney.