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University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Krannert Art Museum: Exhibitions Guide Archive: Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truth’s (SOLHOT)

This guide assembles research guides for past Krannert Art Museum shows.

SOLHOT Is

"SOLHOT is swinging backsides, free, with attitude, sass, and spirit 

Hairstyles straight, natural, curled, blow-dried, locked, 

and if you got something to say that’s not showing us love then we don’t want hear it.

SOLHOT is beautiful skin caramel, chocolate, tan, chestnut brown that gleams 

with the beauty of the scars of being a black girl-child, 

Where we spin, talk and politic about being young, free and wild.

SOLHOT gives us a chance to 

Little Sally Walker, 

Batty Dance, 

chicken noodle soup, 

and put a soda on the side 

all while we talk about what its like to be us with pride.

SOLHOT is church for our spirit when we need to be reminded of how precious we are, 

it anchor’s us to a solid foundation when we go too far.

SOLHOT is where dreams take shape in the form of collages, poems and songs, and where we right the rumors that they spread about Black girls that are wrong.

SOLHOT is us.

SOLHOT is Ania getting that last point across, 

it’s Kaneesha telling us what answers on the quiz are false, 

It’s Leah, Chelsea, and Grenita being our Dreamgirls, 

it’s Dr. Brown pushing us to change the world. 

It’s Candy with the camera glued to her hand, 

it’s Candy being shy and refusing to dance. 

It’s Jasmine reminding us to think outside the box, 

it’s Aisha or Gemini with her pretty brown/red locs.

It’s Jayda and Camille inspiring the artist inside, 

it’s Christina and all of us playing games OUTSIDE. 

It’s LaLa coming with the cool attitude, 

it’s Jazmina reminding us when we’re being rude.

It’s Anaysha with her wisdom beyond her years, 

it’s Ranija and her smile and that calms our fears.

It’s Tavia playing shy all the time, 

It’s Cha Cha coming with a poem/rhyme.

It’s Khayri being motivated, 

it’s Anika, Ashley, and MeMe never being underestimated. 

It’s Princess with her cool pose, 

it’s the incense circle and how we close. 

It’s Talisha’s singsong voice,

It’s us remembering we have a choice;

It’s deciding who and what we want to be on our own terms…whatever our mood, 

It’s beauty shining through like the sun at the highest noon,

It’s cuts for luck and scars for freedom,

It’s remembering where we’re from,

It’s surviving every lie they put in us now…and not to conform 

It’s for Black girls raising our hands the worlds our platform."

            - Love, Chamara (O.G. Homegirl)

From their About Page

About SOLHOT

SOLHOT

SOLHOT Website

From their About page:

“Saving Our Lives Hear Our Truths is a space to celebrate Black girlhood in all of its complexity with Black girls and those who love and support us.  In SOLHOT we dance, sing, discuss important issues, create art, and organize together to improve the communities of which we are a part. We do what needs to be done. The process of doing SOLHOT involves being together and deciding what our work will be based on the gifts, talents, and ideas of those who show up.  More than anything we value Black girls’ lives and create spaces to affirm Black girl genius.”

From SOLHOT’s resources, this gives you an understanding of what they mean by doing SOLHOT, by community, and their honest priorities in relating to each other.

Aloud

 

SOLHOT We Levitate | Music | How I Feel EP