Tanya Nixon Silberg
she/her
Instagram: @tanyanixonsilberg_art
www.facebook.com/tanya.nixonsilberg
www.tanyanixonsilberg.com
Mother Tongue (2024)
Hand embroidery on burlap and muslin panels. Acrylic paint on sheer fabric
When "I am not one of your little friends" is changed to "I am your friend" the results are powerful. For most women of color, our mother’s tongue is both uplifting, affirming and wise while simultaneously heavily burdened with colonialism. The process of decolonization requires a radical reimagining. Mother Tongue is a hand embroidered, three panel piece asking 14 BIPOC mothers to recall phrases heard as children and the process by which they reimagine those phrases for their kids today. Thank you to the mothers who participated: Vernée Wilkinson, Roselynn Rodriguez, Yawa Degboe, Annika Sarin, Kim Parker, Ashley Herring, Elizabeth Gilliam, Alison Croney Moses, Zahirah Nur Truth, Miki-Sophia Cloud, Ruby Velez, Anna-Maria D’Cruz and Nupur.
Artist Statement
My work centers the bodily remembrances of joy, specifically in Black women and girls. So much has been forgotten, yet our bodies remember the heft, sound and look of a fresh set of beads, tambourines at church, hopscotch, the Electric Slide at a family reunion and most importantly, community.
Artist Bio
Tanya Nixon-Silberg is a Black mother, multi-modal artist, Bostonian and educator. Her primary artistic identities are made by weaving storytelling and craft together and her work moves through the lens of liberation in Black identities. Tanya is the founder of Little Uprisings, a project that focuses on deeper relationships with institutions that serve kids to make racial justice an everyday goal. Her liberation workshops have been in many arts institutions in Greater Boston including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, ICA, MassART, PEM and the Boston Children’s Museum. Just one year into exhibiting, Tanya’s artistry has been featured at the Piano Craft Gallery, MassArt X Sowa, Print.Ain’t.Dead bookstore and Scollay Square Gallery. You will mostly find Tanya playing with and learning from her almost 12 year old kid, being in community with other Black mama artists and radically imagining how we all get free together.