Exhibition: Mammy by The Incredible Edible Akynos | Ashawo Café

Mammy presents an elegantly staged dining table layered with archival advertisements depicting Black women as caretakers and domestic laborers. Beneath the skirted table, projected video fragments trace the portrayal of the Mammy figure in cinema, revealing how Black women’s bodies have been shaped through spectacle and control. The act of “looking under the skirt” becomes a confrontation rather than a voyeuristic gesture. Accompanied by a recorded conversation between the artist and Dr. Mireille Miller-Young, the work situates these images within a broader dialogue on race, labor, and representation.

 

About the Artist

The Incredible Edible Akynos / MFA) is a New York–raised performer, artist, and cultural worker whose practice spans performance, installation, and storytelling. Rooted in lived experience as a Sex Worker and organizer, her work interrogates race, labor, sexuality, and power across intimate and public spaces. She creates immersive environments that confront systems of control while centering Black expression, autonomy, and resistance. Her work has been presented in community spaces, international conferences, and experimental performance contexts.