Remi

Murjoni Merriweather is a contemporary American sculptor whose artistic output highlights and celebrates the specific aesthetic qualities in people of colour. Merriweather’s sculptures, usually distinguishable through their long graceful necks, often display features like jewellery, grills (a type of dental jewellery worn over the teeth) and colourful head wraps.

In works like Queenie, Remi and Aurora (all in the collections of the Firestorm Foundation), Merriweather’s artistic material use also extends to hand-braided hair. Gabi Thorne writes (in her article/interview ‘Murjoni Merriweather’s Sculptures. Let Black Beauty Take Up Space. Crafted from colorful braids, massive hoop earrings, and sets of gold teeth, Merriweather’s busts are a gorgeous affirmation of Black American aesthetics’, Allure, 21 March 2022) about Merriweather’s Braided Collection (which the artist first started working on in 2016):

The series seeks to honor the diversity of Black hairstyles, using kanekalon braiding hair as its medium. The process is simple: she molds the clay, then attaches braids dyed in vivid rainbow hues like pink or orange to it. Merriweather is keen on emphasizing that each plait is done by hand to call attention to the time and care put into these hairstyles. "The action of braiding reminds me of the work my mom put into my hair," she says, noting that she sometimes taps her mother or a friend to help her with the braids. "A lot of Black women and even Black men have [a similar] upbringing of getting our hair done. That itself is a part of Black culture."

Like an ode to the Black community, Merriweather’s work magnificently portrays and celebrates Black people (eliminating stereotypes and prejudices in the process) while also advocating for self-love, self-acceptance and self-respect. Merriweather herself has, in her ‘Artist Statement’, stressed how:

My work focuses on addressing and eliminating the negative stereotypes of blackness that still exist both inside and outside of the black community. From my perspective, this starts with erasing the European standards of beauty from blackness while also pushing and normalizing black culture. Our hair, our skin, or features are nothing to be ashamed of. It is also about showing appreciation for different aspects of our culture (ie: hair culture, grill culture, nail culture) and embracing them with confidence. My pieces are created to take up space and to unapologetically give their own personalities as human beings. Each piece is named after someone black or named by someone who is black. Each piece has their own spirit and purpose, just like every human being. They stand tall and proud as a representation of an unforgettable and prominent culture. This gateway of creation uplifts the idea of self love, confidence and appreciation. My work is for black people. It is created to display our innate beauty and to encourage us to be proud of who we are.

As mentioned above, Merriweather’s pieces are named after, or by, someone Black. Before she even touches the clay, Merriweather finds a muse, sometimes among her family and friends. Other times, she’ll see someone with an interesting facial feature or hairstyle out in public that she must recreate with clay. Merriweather gets ideas from social media, too — those go in an Instagram folder. If Merriweather takes a lot of inspiration from one and the same person, she’ll name the sculpture after them.

Maybe this familiarity with the depicted subject is what makes the finished pieces stand out and seem relatable to the viewer? Gabi Thorne touches upon this in her 2022 article/interview:

The profundity of Merriweather’s sculptures lies not just in their beauty, but the feeling of familiarity they invoke. All the details, like the textured hairstyles, jewelry, and glossy lips, are inspired by Black people you may know: The lady you always run into buying hoop earrings at the Beauty Supply shop; the homegirl you bumped into on the subway; your uncle who always mans the grill at family cookouts. ‘[I want] to immortalize each and every one of us,’ Merriweather says. It’s an undertaking she’ll be working on for a lifetime and then some, but she’s committed to the task.

Copyright Firestorm Foundation