Nappy Edges & Identity

One of the themes Shange addresses in nappy edges is exercising her own narrative voice as a black woman. The first chapter of her collection is “things i wd say”. I interpreted Shange’s use of “wd say” as opposed to “am saying” or simply” “things I say” as her stating that these are things she would say given the opportunity and space that is kept from her. In putting the title in lowercase, Shange also draws attention to how her language as a writer has been diminished, and she attributes this to the development of a singular identity of black artists. In the formation of a singular narrative, the voices of individuals have been drowned out. A monolithic “language”, as stated in Juan Goytisolo’s quote, has homogenized individual experience and must be fought against if black women are to be heard. She goes on to describe the ways in which the works of black artists, musicians, poets, and writers have been inappropriately “boxed in” and flattened. She argues that until identities amongst artists are made distinct, “our spaces, language & therefore craft will not be nurtured consciously”. Therefore, black artists and their identities must be made distinct in order for their voices, their own voices, to be known and grown.

The media included above is Toyin Odutola’s  (Barnard’s resident artist!) “uncertain, yet reserved”. She says of her work “where some may see flat, static narratives, I see a spectrum of tonal gradations and realities”. Toyin’s work, similar to Shange’s, pushes against a singular narrative. Her entire quote is below.

“skin as geography is the terrain I expand by emphasizing the specificity of blackness, where an individual’s subjectivity, various realities and experiences can literally be drawn onto the diverse topography of the epidermis. from there, the possibilities of portraying a fully-fledged person are endless.” -Toyin Ojin Odutola