Orientating Black bodies on canvas: Kudzanai-Violet Hwami’s Dance of Many Hands in conversation with A Phenomenology of Whiteness by Sara Ahmed and the limitations of the “non-white” body in white spaces.

The artistic representation of Black, female corporealities has historically sat (or stood) within the constraints of a gaze informed by the perceptual remnants of colonialism. However, artworks such as Dance of Many Hands (2017) by Kudzanai-Violet Hwami, a self-portrait, exposes and dislodges the previously distorted depiction of Black bodies. Hwami paints her self naked standing with her left leg perched up and her arms hanging at her sides. With her shoulders rolled back and chest projected forward, she stares above, and beyond, the spectator. To her left lies a potted banana tree and to her right, cropped blades of grass overlap each other as dark hands inch unnoticed (or perhaps purposefully unacknowledged) onto the canvas towards her body. This complex configuration of symbols denounces the historical deficiency of providing an accurate depiction — if any at all — of Black bodies in the inherently white spaces of creative expression.

Sara Ahmed’s piece A Phenomenology of Whiteness offers valuable insight into the positioning of “non-white” bodies in white spaces. In dialogue with Frantz Fanon’s work, she explores the non-white body’s distinct presence in the white world, which results in an inherent feeling of discomfort. [1] Suppose Ahmed’s approach to the nature of “non-white” bodies in white spaces is applied quite literally with regard to Hwami’s depicted body and its surrounding aesthetic elements. In that case, Dance aims to defy the Eurocentric cultural barriers of artistic expression and thus transcend the intimidations of the white world as posed in Ahmed’s article. Therefore, this analysis offers a contention that Dance expresses the entanglement between the postcolonial Black identity and its intervention into predominantly white spaces. 

Hwami expresses themes of activism through the body language of her painted figure. By posing in the nude, she puts not only her body but her identity on display and challenges the viewers’ orientation of her Black body within their experiences. Her facial expression depicts a captivating sense of agency; as her body tilts backwards, she seems to orient her self outwards and expresses a subjugation of her space. Ahmed’s labelling of whiteness as an experience (which, through its invisibilities makes the world white) relates to Hwami’s celebration of her blackness in Dance. Ahmed’s argument that white bodies comfortably inhabit the spaces in which they exist, [2] emphasises Hwami’s extension into a space without force and presents her Black body unapologetically. Her posture radiates a conscious presence and as a lesbian woman, [3] her artistic expression extends far beyond the polarities of race and its homogenous affiliations with gender and sexuality.

The potted banana tree appears as a recurring motif throughout several of Hwami’s works. [4] While she does not specify if the tree symbolises a sexual potency or perhaps an abundance of some sort, it is an object that requires nurturing in order to thrive. Additionally, the textured grass to her left furthers the natural and biological characteristics of the painting. The reaching hands entering the painting seem intent on controlling Hwami’s body to either cover up her nudity or claim it for themselves. Regardless, there is a powerful dialogue between male and female orientation within the traditionally “white” space.

Hwami challenges the viewer’s orientation of space by painting her objects out of proportion to one another in order to provide context to define her unique Black identity. To Ahmed, whiteness is an “object of knowledge”. [5] If one applies this statement literally to Hwami’s objects in Dance, Hwami presents her own objects of knowledge that have been generated through her Black experience. These objects carry a sense of displacement in their collage-like nature, yet as Hwami has stated, all her work is planned and not spontaneous. [6] By projecting images onto the blank canvas, Hwami consciously arranges these objects and, in doing so, communicates a certainty in her presence. This upsets Ahmed’s claim that the world is a space where things inherently “have a certain place”, [7] showing that objects are not anchored to a singular space but live in coalition with other objects and other bodies. 

Dance reminds its viewer that its presence is not due to an inherited space, but instead to Hwami’s depicted body language, which shows a high level of comfort within this space. While the literal canvas was itself a white space before Hwami soaked it with a warm orange colour, it would be worth extending this analysis and perhaps consider art institutions as white bodies themselves. Hwami presents a space of sanctuary for the Black body. The surrounding constellation of objects reflect the overlap of various issues that influence one’s corporeality. Hwami grounds her body within this space. The wider implications of this analysis hibernate in a discourse of contemporary art in the postcolonial experience.