Claudia “Aziza” Gibson-Hunter
Flight School
May 6–May 28, 2023

“…spiritual technologies are repeated cultural practices meant to alter the mind, body, or spirit of an individual or community.”
(Spiritual Technologies Project)

Claudia “Aziza” Gibson-Hunter understands flight to be spiritual technology. It is a powerful technology which creates a dimension that provides protection for the soul. From the stories collected by Zora Neale Hurston to Alvin Ailey’s Revelation to gospel music lyrics, flight has been more than a verb. Flight is also a noun, a spiritual state of being that creates a loophole of redemption. It is in this state/place that Black folk heal, plan, prepare, and imagine, expanding creative and intellectual energy. Though the body and mind are bombarded with racist restraints, this place can be activated. Given the aggressive attempts to further dissolve the promise of a people, this is a time to activate flight, hence the title Flight School. Gibson-Hunter explores this notion of flight through abstraction.

About the artist:

Ms. Gibson-Hunter is an abstract mixed media artist. She blends painting, printmaking, collage, papermaking, and assemblage to investigate themes of agency, memory, and spirituality. Acrylic paint and colored pencil are combined with commercial and artist-made papers. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Aziza graduated from Temple University (BS) and Howard University (MFA). Ms. Gibson-Hunter has been awarded the Individual Artist Fellowship Program Grant, from the DC Commission of the Arts and Humanities, numerous times. Her work can be found in the collections of the Washington DC Art Bank and the US Embassy in Liberia. She has also held positions at Parsons School of Art, Howard University, and Bowie State University. Ms. Gibson-Hunter is a member of the Black female collectives Dandelion Black, THOUGHT, and WOAUA. She is a cofounding member of Black Artists of DC and operates a studio located within the STABLE art complex in Washington, DC.