86 In her own words Solange Knowles rewrites the narrative on blackness and womanhood
Solange’s style transcends trends. Her art transcends time. Her boundless pride sets the table for a new conversation on blackness, on womanhood and on hair that can’t be touched.
no matter what era she was born in or what medium she chose, Solange, 33, would have been an astounding artist. Why? Because she is – proudly and powerfully – her unique self. I believe that’s the principal quality of great artists: owning and embracing one’s vision, voice and perspective, and believing that putting your voice out in the world is a profound and important act.
I’m deeply moved by the pride Solange so clearly takes in her beautiful sonic and visual creations that take popular music to an incredible level of artistry. The combined effect of her multidisciplinary storytelling – often created in collaboration with a beautifully diverse group of artists and creators – and her very presence in the world transcends trends. A woman and artist supreme, her creative output is truly timeless and endlessly empowering.
Solange engages with and reflects so many cultural icons, from visual artists like Adrian Piper, Lorna Simpson, Kara Walker and Carrie Mae Weems to literary heroes including Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison, Ntozake Shange and Alice Walker.
Like them, Solange represents in her work the story of black life yesterday, today and tomorrow, and the indomitable spirit of black women. In a culture that has often defined beauty so narrowly and placed so many limitations on possibility, she shows us that we need not accept others’ projections of who we are. Instead, we should boldly exist as the creations of our own powerful imaginations, redefining beauty and possibility without limits, knowing and loving who we are.
There will be fear. A lot of it. There will be triumph. A lot of it. There will be constellations you want to reach for but can’t put your finger on. You’ll trace them like the scars on your body you got from trouble and the times of your life. You’ll take the long way to get to these Orions. The long way will become a theme in your life, but a journey you learn to love.
You’ll dive headfirst without looking into phases that you’re certain embody who you are. Some of these stages include: the danceis-life, aka “this leotard is my second skin”, phase; the Bible-thumping, church-camp phase, which coincided with and
contradicted the FionaApple phase; the Nasaficionado, brown-liplinerphase; the Rasta-vegan-thrifter phase; and the sports player’sbraided- blond highlights-and-swears-bycapriphase. At the time, you are searching. Seeking in every corner and pocket of the world for who you are. Take your time, baby girl. There’s no rush to get there. You’ll sow each of these chapters in the land that you become. You’ll see bits and pieces of them scattered into the skin you grow into. You don’t have to figure everything out now. Time will reveal itself. I promise you.
Sometimes you push these phases to the max, and when you go out into the world feeling confident in who you are and what you reflect, young people will call you names and grown people will call you names. It’s OK. One day you’ll name yourself, and that name will belong to you. It won’t be the ones they ordained, “Crazy. Ugly. Attention-seeking.”
I really hate to tell you this, but sometimes you’ll still get called these things as an adult, except you’ll actually embrace some of them. You’ll learn that these are just words. Words that only have power if you choose to give them power. Every once in a while they will hurt, but you’ll choose to turn those words into a symbol of beauty.
Speaking of words, they might just be your first love. Sometimes you can write for hours, just you and the words on the pages. They make you feel understood, even if it’s just you that you’re talking to. Trust in these words, even when you’re feeling wildly insecure. Hold on to your journals. Cherish them. Put them somewhere safe so that they may become a guide for you later, a revealer and a friend.
The lucky stars have been good to you, and there’s a long list of things you’d like to give gratitude to them for, but for now thank them for these three: that you didn’t die when you and your friends drove up a steep mountain in a snowstorm with no experience and bad brakes – that was stupid as hell; that you went to Australia’s Ensemble Theatre every year, I really don’t think you’d be who you are today had it not been for those experiences, teachers, and experimentation with your mind and body; and that the universe chose your mom to be your mother. She is a wonder. You watch her drop three kids off at three different schools in the morning, pick them up in the afternoon, shuffle each of them to their designated activities and bring them all back to the salon she owns until she closes up with the utmost grace, love and kindness.
You will realise that watching a woman balance being a supportive mother, building up a successful business from the ground up that was started in her garage and giving back to
the community will make you feel invincible and like the word ‘no’ is just an echo in the universe that you’ll never know. You often take her for granted, but you know with every joint in your bones that she’s a phenomenon and you strive to make her proud. You should thank her out loud more, too; tell her you value her. Roll your eyes and your neck less, it’s not as cute as you think. Tell her you appreciate all that she does, for she makes the impossible look effortless. She surrounds you with other black women who do the same, you study them, and will constantly think of all their stories, their beauty, their strife and their stride. They break down all of the archetypes and stereotypes that you see of black women on TV and in magazines, so you don’t trust those anymore. You thank them for rewriting the script before it was ever etched in your memory because you have your mama’s blood, you are fiercely independent and outgoing.
You’ve been starting petitions, building tree houses and starting clubs since as long as you can remember. Sometimes in the midst of juggling all this, you put a lot of pressure on yourself and often crash and burn. You shut down. You go into your room, lock the door, put on music and you don’t move for eight hours straight. It will feel like the heaviest and bleakest darkness you can possibly feel, and when you ask everyone to leave you alone and let you be, what you really want to say is, “I want you here,” and, “I need help!”
Sometimes it is OK to say just that. It won’t make you less strong or less powerful. No one you love will criticise you or blame you; in fact, they will lift you up.
Seventeen will be the hardest year of your life. It will grow you up almost immediately. You’ll lose your best friend whom you love so much to gun violence in a single moment, and give birth to a new one within a year. You’ll be terrified, and it’s OK that you don’t know what the future holds. Some people will count you out because of the decision you’ve made to bring another life into the world so young, but you made the decision out of love and will live with the decision in love. Soon enough you’ll learn how to love and how to exist with love in ways that you never knew. You’ll learn how to love yourself and how to empathise with and forgive those who may have taken a bit of that pure love away from you.
You have a long life ahead of you and I’ll tell you, it’s not going to always be easy, but I can promise you that it will be fruitful and with much purpose. All the bridges you’ve burnt, you had to, so that you could rebuild them to become a stronger and more wonderful you.
There will be pain, there will be doubt, there will be beauty, there will be the unknown. There will be so many moments of joy and delight that the whole universe will feel painted in hues of amber and wonder. There will be times you’re so sad you can’t even lift your head and there will be times you are so happy that the sensation of life knocks you down. But most importantly, there will be you.
“There will be pain, there will be doubt, there will be beauty, there will be the unknown. There will be so many moments of joy and delight that the whole universe will feel painted in hues of amber and wonder. There will be times you are so sad you can’t lift your head and there will be times you are so happy that the sensation of life knocks you down”