Exploring Black Femme Identities: Qualeasha Wood’s ‘Malware’

Qualeasha Wood’s ‘Malware’ at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery uses glitch aesthetics to explore Black femme identities. Through tapestries, tuftings, and videos, she critiques digital overexposure and memory distortion while challenging societal narratives. The exhibition addresses the duality of glitches as both corruptive and transformative. Open until April 26 in London.

Qualeasha Wood’s exhibition, Malware, at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery explores themes of Black femme identity through the lens of digital glitches. Wood uses glitch aesthetics to reflect on self-identity in a media-saturated world, blending body horror with a hopeful outlook. Her unique works include tapestries, tuftings, and videos that transform digital code into artistic expressions.

In Malware, her jacquard tapestries turn pixels into poetic stories, illuminated by computer screen lights. These pieces feature her signature webcam self-portraits layered with comments on burnout and digital overexposure, including code in Python and Java. Her accompanying videos further distort these images, enhancing the theme of identity fluidity.

Moving within the gallery, viewers encounter tufted works that evoke memories of her grandmother’s house, reflecting on the intersection of online and offline life. Wood contemplates memory distortion and themes of girlhood, highlighting the tension between digital existence and real-life experiences.

The gallery notes, “Like a computer virus, [a glitch] infiltrates and corrupts systems, but it also creates new pathways.” Wood applies this analogy to Black femme experiences within societal structures that often view them as errors. Her art interrogates the feelings of paranoia and anxiety tied to existing in systems that commodify individuals while also portraying them as problems.

Qualeasha Wood’s **Malware** exhibition showcases her innovative use of glitch aesthetics to examine Black femme identities. Through her work, she challenges digital and societal constructs while evoking themes of memory and identity. The gallery is open until April 26, inviting viewers to reflect on the complexities of life both online and offline.

Original Source: hypebeast.com