Mama These Look Like Lost Souls

April 19- June 22, 2024

“Mama, These Look Like Lost Souls” is a direct quote by the youngest of artist Soynika Edwards-Bush’s four children, after watching her work during a studio residency with Alabama Contemporary Art Center in Mobile in 2020-2022. Edwards-Bush’s work sources family photographs, drawing from her memories and direct relationships to create paintings that ultimately blunt the identities of her kin, to make way for a broader conversation about Black identity, Black History, and Black love. 

Soynika Edwards-Bush is a self-taught artist, mother of four, and wife, born and raised in Prichard, AL. Her painting work is bolstered by her dogged participation in the community she comes from, ever striving to present new models and find ways to uplift. “Mama, These Look Like Lost Souls” originated in 2022 by Alabama Contemporary Art Center, Mobile, Alabama. It is an exhibition about what is remembered, what is lost, and what is truly knowable within a human life.