A Group Exhibition at Sovern LA
On view June 1, 2024 - September 28, 2024
​Curated by Cindy Bonaparte
​

Featuring ten California-based BIPOC visual  artists, Sowing Seed of Care and Refusal  invites viewers to gain knowledge on themselves while receiving artists’ visions of a world where our purpose and gifts are cared for more, exploring what we might have to refuse or let go of to give more care to the world around us. This interactive show emphasizes the interconnectedness of our collective well-being and is grounded in the Dagara Medicine Wheel. 

This program was made possible through The Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture’s Community Impact Arts Grant. Related workshops and programs ran concurrently to the exhibition and explored themes of collective care in alignment with Sovern’s mission to foster dialogue and change, utilizing art as a modality for healing justice. 

Featured artists include Asari Aibangbee, Bridget DeLee, Victoria Elliott, inez inok’t, Francesca Lalanne, Ebony Morris, Shaylen Nelson, Vanessa Rivera, and Amber Salik. 

Cindy Bonaparte

Curator
Cindy Bonaparte

Cindy Bonaparte (b. 1985, California) is an artist and educator engaged in Eastern and Afro-indigenous healing philosophies. Her artistic practice includes sculpture, ceramics, collage and installations depicting figurative and organic forms. Across disciplines, her focus on the Black female body points to a return to an uncommodified relationship with the earth and currency. Bonaparte uses natural materials such as fabric, paper and clay to explore themes of heritage, family, identity and relationship with Afro-indigenous practices and spirits. A current material of interest, a raw clay vein found while tending the earth of her Los Angeles neighborhood, has deepened Cindy’s relationship with the land, locality and art process.


Bonaparte has participated in group presentations with Sovern LA (2022), the Los Angeles County Arts Department (2023) and Charlie James Gallery (2023). Her solo exhibition Black, Sanctity & Trust at the Crenshaw Dairy Mart (2021) served as an altar for healing the Black body and womb. She is a 2023-24 SoLA Contemporary SEED Artist, an artist–in–residence with Sovern LA, and is a California Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellow.

Sovern LA is an intersectional community center and gallery, located in LA’s West Adams district, focused on supporting Black and Indigenous women and gender expansive people of color. Fueled by a passion for justice, equality, and creative expression, Sovern is driven by the collective determination to center healing justice, challenge systemic barriers, empower artists of color, and amplify their impact for collective wellbeing. By building a community that uplifts and celebrates diverse voices, we aim to reshape the art world in Los Angeles and beyond, creating a more inclusive and equitable space where artists and communities can thrive together.

View the digital catalog: