Exploring millennial womanhood and childhood
This week we welcome Christl Stringer, a Black surrealist figurative painter, writer and filmmaker. Her art and writing explore the interiority of Black millennial womanhood and childhood experiences.
Stringer’s work has been shown widely, including shows at SPRING/BREAK (New York and Los Angeles), Visionary Projects NYC and the AnkhLave Arts Alliance’s international artist exchange in Kenya, among others. Her films and scripts have been accepted into the NFFTY Film Festival, Thuh Film Festival, the New Haven International Film Festival and more. She is a graduate of Montclair State University’s theater studies program.
In Stringer’s words: “My figurative surrealist paintings investigate the themes surrounding the deteriorating effects of capitalism on the human psyche. While using domestic and nostalgic items as motifs, I invite the viewer to understand the constant spite, anger and reluctant humor I find in my experience of being a Black woman and former child.
I incorporate childlike and jovial colors that can resemble pop art and commerciality, at first glance. The color choices illustrate a facade of what it takes to get through the day as a millennial Black woman and child. In the 21st century, society is always meme-ifying Black emotions and expression for comedy, dehumanization or capitalist gain. As an antithesis of that, my work forces the viewer to immerse themselves in the thoughts and experiences of Black people.”
