31 MAY - 24 JUNE 2023
BACK GALLERY

HANNAH COLEMAN
TOO MUCH

I flood the space with cold, white, unbearable light and invite you in. How do you negotiate with the retina? How do you negotiate with the institution? You don’t. You acclimatise and endure. Within this room my oversaturated frontal cortex is projected; I’m overcoming the overwhelming.
Repulsed, I recoil at the thought of fostering discourse for it to be held by an all too enthusiastic white audience and an absent POC comm(echo chamber)unity. As a person of colour experiencing cultural dysphoria, Too Much is a reflection on finding ways to discuss cultural identity within the white cube, and the pressures of being expected to do so. I feel myself preemptively resenting the white people TM for signing up to become their POC sweetheart. I haven't finished playing with my toy (my cultural dysphoria); I’m not ready to share it yet. Honestly, how many ways can one say “I’m not black enough, but I’m not white enough either?” How many times are we expected to hear this unnuanced take?
In a way, the canvas is too full with emptiness. I have a lot to discuss but I don’t know anything for sure and I don’t know where to begin.

Photography Brianna Speight