Matriarch

Black women are beautiful and strong and always giving.

The black community stands on the shoulders of black women. Without the matriarch a lot of society just doesn't work the way that it does or that it needs to. Being a matriarch though isn’t about power or how much noise that you make. Being a matriarch is about leading by example. Our matriarchs know that there’s leadership in love be that for family, community, culture or Country. Most of us tell stories of being raised by our mum, or our grandma, or our aunties. We share stories about the black women who created the safe spaces for us to grow and learn, who told us to dream big and encouraged us on our way. Black women change the lives and the worlds they come into contact with just by doing what they’re doing with whatever space, energy, capacity and opportunity that they have.

This exhibition is an act of appreciation for some of the amazing black women who have impacted Murri artist, Broc Piazza over the last 18 months. These portraits tell an important story, that there are so many sides to black women and so many ways of being a black woman, and that all of them are valid.

Matriarch is supported by the Woolyunguh Indigenous Centre, Indigenous Strategy Unit and the UOW Art Collection and Gallery.