because i am that is a two-person exhibition by Adee Roberson and Azikiwe Mohammed presented in CAAM’s atrium. Featuring screenprints, paintings, video, window vinyl, and a mix of sculptural works, because i am that is a malleable environment that will evolve to include additional collaborators in performance, movement, and sound. Roberson’s and Mohammed’s intuitive practices figure Blackness as an abstraction, something free of fixed narratives and boundaries. because i am that is a conversation between two artists, a means to attend to the physical and metaphysical and to build a cosmic vessel that offers transport to an unbound sphere of Black musings.

The exhibition’s title is borrowed from the writings of conceptual-performance artist Senga Nengudi. In the last line of a personal statement from 1996, Nengudi reminds the reader that despite the abstract nature of her work, it is inherently imbued with a multitude of presences (Black, woman, spiritual being). Both Roberson and Mohammed affirm this matter-of-fact declaration, asserting the significance of their work and themselves and leaving it at that.