Simone Leigh. Althea, 2016; terra-cotta, india ink, porcelain, cobalt, epoxy. Courtesy of the Artist and Hammer Museum. Photo: Brian Forrest.

Simone Leigh uses sculpture to tell stories that transcend time and space. In her first solo West Coast exhibition at the Hammer Museum, Leigh draws on Africa’s colonial past while remaining rooted in the present, incorporating political resistance and performance to craft a decidedly modern aesthetic.

The exhibition features five onyx-colored sculptural busts adorned with raffia skirts, beads and headdresses made from small porcelain roses in shades of indigo, gray, white, and gilded 14-karat gold. Distinct facial expressions and gestures distinguish each bust from the others. None of the sculptures, however, have eyes. If eyes are the windows to the soul, their absence creates a façade; their obfuscation may be a protective emotional shield. One sculpture stands apart from the rest. A black hole in the center of the bust surrounded by black flowers in india ink replaces the details of her face. With her identity unknown, the piece becomes a mirror for the viewer to project their own narrative onto the work. When looking at her, I couldn’t help but think of Nina Simone’s powerfully emotive song “Four Women.” The song invites us into the lives of her subjects, engaging us in simple, vivid stories of pain, history, and perception. Viewing Simone Leigh’s work through this lyrical storytelling lens, I saw these sculptures as an abstract adaptation of the song. The artist extends the narrative by including the faceless woman whose story is unknown.

In Leigh’s exhibition, music strategically fills the void left from the absence of the spoken word. A work that sits across from the five busts in the gallery deploys music in this way. In a large-scale piece called Cupboard V, Leigh incorporates dance, improvisation, and music into her sculptural practice. A large, raffia-covered hut kisses the gallery’s ceiling, taking up three-quarters of the space in the small room. Its entrance is obscured from the front of the gallery. Music plays within the hut, beckoning the viewer toward the entrance at the back of the gallery. Inside, the video installation Aluminum plays. This piece features performance artist Rashida Bumbray dancing in a studio, her ankle shakers rhythmically accentuating her moves in harmony with the piano accompaniment.

A key to this exhibition lies in the many possible ways viewers can interpret how the two sets of works connect. The combined works in the exhibit represent a multigenerational and trans-Atlantic exploration into the origins of African and African American storytelling traditions that resonate throughout the diaspora.

Simone Leigh is curated by the ICA’s Jamilla James and is on view at the Hammer through January 8, 2017.

Colony Little is a Los Angeles–based writer and founder of Culture Shock Art. As a Bay Area native and long-term Southern California resident, Colony covers emerging contemporary art in California, the aesthetic of urban culture, and is a champion of African American art and media.

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I have grown to love a television program entitled American Restoration, which chronicles a Las Vegas shop that restores rusty, beat-up items to their former beauty. After recently marveling at the rebirth of a 1940s USPS mailbox, it became evident that my fixation on these objects has little to do with the items themselves, but is instead tied to the stories I fashion for them in my mind and believe must be accurate.

Erin Rachel Hudak. Installation of "Promiseland," Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, ID. February 17-March 7, 2012.

Promiseland – Erin Rachel Hudak’s new body of work – responds to notions of storytelling, considering the ways individual narratives can be insinuated into more collective notions of cultural and national history. She mines Americana for her imagery, incorporating quilt patterns, lanterns and baskets, among others, into her paintings and collages. Her images immediately evoke an almost innate rehearsal of American folklore. At the same time, her slight subversions of these original symbols – coupled with the use of opened ended phrases like “this is where we begin” – invite a more personal interpretation of these signs.

Erin Rachel Hudak. "Promiseland," 2011. Acrylic on canvas. 58” x 66". Courtesy of the Artist and Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, ID.

While the works’ subject matters may initially appear benign – seemingly playful due to their bright colors and use of lighthearted materials such as glitter – there are often underlying political implications. The title painting, Promiseland, reconsiders the American Seal, presenting the bald eagle holding arrows, but missing the corresponding olive branch – that which nods to our preference for peace. The lightly colored wing on the left stands in stark contrast to the ominous, dripping black characterizing the right wing. I am particularly intrigued by the repeated appearance of fire in these works. What at first seems to be an innocuous allusion to a campfire – the quintessential site of storytelling in American culture – also references a headdress and crown, intimating those narratives often concealed from public consciousness.

Erin Rachel Hudak. "Love You Forever" as installed in Festival Meadows, Sun Valley, ID. 2012.

Concurrent with her exhibition at Ochi Gallery, Hudak created the on-site installation, Love you Forever, in Sun Valley’s Festival Meadows. First presented beneath the Brooklyn Bridge with gold and silver mylar balloons, Hudak has reimagined this installation for the rugged winter terrain of Idaho. Constructed of pink and gold fabric, the letters whimsically mark the meadow’s otherwise white landscape, a reminder to appreciate one’s environment. While the installation is not a formal extension of her gallery exhibition, the work certainly represents a consistent interest in using form and text to prompt self-awareness. As Hudak explains, “[w]e need the moments between our thoughts to understand art and to understand ourselves. Public art can give you that opportunity when you least expect it.”

Promiseland is on view at Ochi Gallery in Ketchum, Idaho through March 15. Her installation Love you Forever was installed on February 17 in Sun Valley. Keep your eyes peeled for information on her outdoor installation at the DUMBO Arts Festival in September 2012.