![\"Artist](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/DWMGSRWPDZHTNIQHNEY5POOJJQ.jpg\")
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Artist Suni Mullen’s conceptual art piece titled “Poetic Malice.” The piece is part of the “Two Tears in a Bucket” exhibition.<\/p>\n
Coyia Malone \/ Tubman Gallery<\/p>\n
The title comes from a phrase deeply rooted in Black vernacular: <\/b>\u201ctwo tears in a bucket, mother f– it.\u201d For Rudd, it represents a spiritual shrug. <\/p>\n
News Roundups<\/p>\n
By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cTwo tears in a bucket resonates this idea of what you need to let go or that process of letting go, learning to let it go, or the lessons from letting go,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Rudd, who is Kenyan American, brought together four artists from across the U.S. for the exhibition to depict the phrase in their own interpretation. <\/p>\n \u201cI kind of told them that I wanted raw honesty of what that meant for them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Harlan Bozeman<\/a>, based between Arkansas and New Orleans, uses photography to explore erased Black histories and everyday survival. His photograph Failure to Appear is a man holding a water gun. A light streak in the center of the photo blocks his face. It\u2019s a loud comment on systemic criminalization. Another photo, Survival, blends an average domestic life with cultural memory using a man reading a white book titled \u201csurvival\u201d in a retro brown-and-white kitchen with modern home appliances.<\/p>\n Rudd was raised in a Kenyan household and didn\u2019t hear the phrase \u201ctwo tears in a bucket\u201d growing up. But she said she recognized its echoes in her own culture.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s versions of that in Kiswahili. There\u2019s versions in Luganda. There\u2019s a version of that in these other African languages that I\u2019ve been exposed to all my life. It\u2019s just not that one,\u201d Rudd said.<\/p>\n These similarities led Rudd to be intentional about mixing media like photography, conceptual sculptures, ceramics and a short film. She believes multiple interpretations allow for deeper understandings of Black culture, something she says is often viewed through a single lens.<\/p>\n Day Brierre’s clay slabs hang on the walls at Tubman Gallery, resembling pages from a diary, reflecting personal healing and spirituality.<\/p>\n Coyia Malone \/ Tubman Gallery<\/p>\n Haitian-born Houston-based ceramicist Day Brierre<\/a> works with clay slabs that resemble pages from a diary, reflecting personal healing and spirituality, while Kariyana Calloway-Scott<\/a>, from Decatur, Ga., blends film and spoken word to examine memories of her own and those of her ancestors, motherhood and inherited trauma. Rudd said her goal is to expose Fort Worth residents to a new outlook.<\/p>\n \u201cNow [Fort Worth] gets to have this awareness, this exposure, this new dialogue,\u201d Rudd said. \u201cThat\u2019s just not gonna come if you\u2019re seeing the same things and circling the same.\u201d<\/p>\n To Tubman Gallery founder, Matthew Nelson, Black identity is having a moment in the art world, but the gallery\u2019s focus goes deeper \u2014 it\u2019s about telling the story of America. Nelson sees the gallery\u2019s role as both serving Black audiences in Fort Worth and creating dialogue across all North Texas cultures.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n \u201cThe Black conversation, as we know, is the American conversation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe conversation about Black music is the conversation about American music. The conversation about Black cinema is the conversation about cinema. In the case of a non-Black audience, what we\u2019re saying to them is welcome. Welcome to the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n Rudd views \u201cTwo Tears in a Bucket\u201d as both catharsis and preservation. The phrase at its center, she said, has been passed down for generations. Now, it finds new life through art.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that they see themselves in the work, but then also feel encouraged to speak on it differently,\u201d Rudd said.<\/p>\n Details<\/p>\n![\"Day](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/QZQPGJIOQRFONLDO2OR4MZ4KV4.jpg\")
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