Dark Desires

Curated by crystal a.m. nelson in partnership with San Francisco’s Center for Sex and Culture, Dark Desires uses a dual platform approach to explore this history of the black erotic, broadly speaking, with a particular interest in black female-identified sexual subjectivities. Divided between the gallery at the Center for Sex and Culture and a publication, Dark Desires will feature a combination of archival material, visual art, film/video and performance. A selection of material from the Center’s library and archive as well as the larger archive of pop cultural material provides a much needed historical framework for the ways in which black sexual positivity has been imagined and self-represented across spheres. A range of artworks from invited artists brings into relief the ways in which they engage with this history and the self-defined notions of the erotic, pleasure, desire and their uses in their own lives and in the worlds through which they circulate.