Working primarily on paper and canvas, Sampy collages images, fabric, marks, stains, and bodies to capture the resourcefulness and adaptability of the Black experience. The exhibition employs found, familial, and archival images to visualize moments of connection, leaving space for varied understandings and imaginings of an ever-unfolding "now." This new body of work explores Black interiority and agency across generations by juxtaposing bodies in relation to one another. Existing in the space between undoing and becoming, Sampy reimagines Blackness as a complex, flexible, mutating tool for reconfiguring hope. I Am, Because You Are weaves the individual with the collective, allowing viewers to reflect on all we are and imagine all we can be.

Artist Chayse Sampy:
Chayse Sampy was born in 1997 and raised in Houston, Texas. She earned her BFA from Louisiana State University (2020) and her MFA from Florida State University(2023). Drawing from the enduring spirit of Black resistance, Sampy incorporates a collage of images and materials that highlight the collaborative nature of Blackness across time and space. Her mixed media paintings are sculptural, functioning as monuments, memorials, and memories. By incorporating mediums often associated with "craft," her work conveys a sense of resourcefulness, adaptability, and complexity integral to the Black experience, calling forth a tradition of fugitive creativity.

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