“How to give yourself Flowers” an Exhibition by Reneé Simone

*ON DISPLAY UNTIL AUGUST 3RD*

Exhibition Statement :

“How to give yourself Flowers” is a collection of analog portraits, mixed- media collages, and a quilt paying homage to Reneé’s exploration of time and Black womanhood. She began photographing her mother in 2024 alongside self-portraits as a method of strengthening their relationship. As the series evolved, it became a vessel for honoring the women who have influenced her journey. The piece serves as a foundation for conversations about the inevitable longing to understand identity and how historical context can shape how we navigate and feel the effects of time on our ability to love, grow, and understand each other. Through continuing to explore Black womanhood in portraits, Reneé develops a visual language that’s directly informed by her personal experiences, the physical and cultural landscape of new york and how they all connect her to people and relationships.

Central to the project is a quilt composed of varying years and versions of cyanotype film portraits on fabrics inspired by Renee’s childhood home and culture, offering a physical memoir of figures who’ve helped shape it. This exploration lives in a world that defines Black womanhood as this everlasting and ever-changing journey; similarly to the quilt, it is layered and holds details that are reflective of our history and mundane lives. The collection of work holds traces that have informed Renee’s journey as she’s particularly interested in the relationship

between the physical process of creating cyanotypes and her slow, evolving understanding that time offers in her reflections on Black womanhood, memory, and belonging.

Artist Bio

Reneé Simone is a multidisciplinary artist from Brooklyn, New York, concentrating in photography and filmmaking. Her work spans narratives centered on identity, culture, and expressionism, questioning how the layers of her history are woven into the mundaneness of our everyday lives and relationships with one another. She’s inspired by Black womanhood as a journey and works to create a type of intimacy that encourages herself and others, young black girls especially, to find who they are before being told who to be. Creating dynamic pieces rooted in her Caribbean heritage and experience as a Black woman in America, helps her translate the complexities of identity into a visual language that defines the textures of the world around her.