Jamel Robinson’s “A Love Worth Fig Fighting For” delves into the raw grief carried by Black and other marginalized bodies, merging the struggle for survival with the brutal artistry of boxing. In this exhibition, love is not only an emotional force but a weapon, forged through pain and endurance. Robinson’s works—some created using boxing gloves dipped in paint, others through powerful assemblages—capture both the physicality of the fight and the abstract expression of grief, anger, and resilience. A short film also accompanies the exhibition, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Robinson’s process of punching paintings into existence, set to a score composed and performed by the artist himself.

Each stroke made by the boxing gloves represents a breakthrough from the deep grief of battles fought for justice, identity, and recognition. These abstract paintings, crafted by hands that have endured, create a visual language of struggle, loss, and love’s capacity to heal and resist. The assemblages—bound with rope, spiked with nails and paired with other materials associated with bondage—serve as stark metaphors for the crushing weight of powerlessness, capturing the sense of being sidelined in the fight for dignity and belonging.

Yet, for Robinson, the process of creation offers hope—a release from the weight of oppression. Through the act of making, love transforms grief into resilience, turning helplessness into strength. This exhibition, with its varied mediums and visceral marks, honors the defiance of marginalized communities, showing that love, in all its pain and strength, is the ultimate act of resistance.

On view 11/16/24 - 2/16/25