Shadows of Her Windows: Dreams of the Black Interior

installation view, furniture, found, gifted, and gathered matrilineal artifacts, mixed media collages

September 6, 2024–February 9, 2025

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

photos by Izaiah Johnson

The Contemporary Art Museum of Saint Louis’s Teen Museum Studies program (TMS) guides high school-aged participants through the process of selecting a St. Louis-based artist and presenting an exhibition of their work. The 2024 TMS cohort selected glyneisha, a poly-disciplinary artist, educator, and community caretaker. glyneisha describes her work as “archiving the inherent healing nature of matrilineal Blackness through processes of ethical collaboration informed by Black feminist scholarship.” In Shadows of Her Windows: Dreams of the Black Interior, found objects, furniture, artworks, and sentimental items from glyneisha’s family home are presented together as a reconstruction of personal memory and trauma, creating a new environment of healing, encouragement, and change. By inserting these interiors within the museum setting, glyneisha disrupts cultural norms of safety and representation.

In this exhibition, glyneisha explores the complexities surrounding the Black home by creating a safe, curated space for Black and Brown people to have quiet moments of reflection—something that can be challenging within art institutions. She also highlights the importance of matrilineal connections to family rituals passed down to generations through photographs, furniture, and other objects. By creating a space for healing, glyneisha presents possibilities for what a physical and symbolic interior for Black femmes can be. 

Available in the adjacent Library is a curated selection of books by other artists and writers exploring family dynamics, healing, and Black femininity as a way to bring additional voices into the conversation. By pushing against the norms of the “traditional” gallery space, glyneisha encourages connections between the viewer, text, and artwork, and creates an inviting space for discourse, inclusivity, and political activation.

Shadows of Her Windows: Dreams of the Black Interior is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Gray Baker, Caroline Entrup, Leanna Haynes, Finn Kanak, Fern Kanak, Salem Lambert, Sarah Ong, Felix Perez, Aidan Thompson, Sanai Todd, Frankie Williams, Jacob Williams with support from Brandon Barr, Teen and Adult Programs Manager.