The Boldness of Being Tender: Dame Moore and Delaney George on The Color of Care
What does it mean to be cared for without having to ask? In the first episode of Season 3 of The Mental Plug, artist Dame Moore and curator Delaney George explore that question through The Color of Care, Moore’s solo exhibition at Context Projects. Their conversation moves through portraiture, memory, vulnerability, and the ways Black women care for others while still needing care themselves.
For Moore, care is not only something offered outward. It is also the experience of being seen, supported, and allowed to soften. The women in her portraits hold strength and tenderness at once. Their presence challenges the idea that tenderness signals fragility. Instead, Moore’s work makes room for a fuller picture: strength can exist alongside vulnerability, and softness can carry its own power.
That balance is especially personal in Dolly, a portrait inspired by Moore’s late grandmother. Moore describes her grandmother as beautiful and majestic, but also complex, a woman whose fullness could not be reduced to a single quality. In the portrait, she holds flowers. For Moore, that image gathers together beauty, care, and everything her grandmother carried. It also becomes a way to honor women whose complexity is part of what makes them unforgettable.
The conversation turns to the memories we inherit from our elders and the questions we wish we had asked while we had the chance. Those memories can be carried forward through art, Moore and George suggest. What we inherit does not have to remain fixed in the past. It can be preserved, interpreted, and made new. Moore’s portraiture offers one way of doing that, keeping personal stories present while allowing others to recognize parts of their own families in the work.
George saw something familiar in Moore’s paintings: a shared sense of purpose in telling stories that matter. She also noticed the vibrancy Moore brings to the work, an element Moore says is intentional. Their exchange reflects the connection between artist and curator, but it also speaks to the relief of being understood without having to explain every part of yourself.
For the two women, one hope for the exhibition is that Black women who encounter the work feel safe enough to be tender and at ease. Strength and resilience are part of Black women’s stories, but they do not have to be the whole story. Care matters, and it cannot always be left to others to provide. Moore’s invitation is to extend it to ourselves, to our families, and to our communities.
By the end of the episode, The Color of Care becomes more than a collection of portraits. It asks what we recognize in the people we love, what stories we carry forward, and how we put care into practice after leaving the gallery. The people who have loved us remain present in the stories we tell and the ways we care for one another. That, too, is part of what we inherit.
Hosted by @thesoul.speaker, Episode 1 of The Mental Plug Season 3, “The Color of Care: The Boldness of Being Tender,” is streaming on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. The Color of Care, a solo exhibition by @damemooreart, is on view at @contextprojects and curated by @delannii.
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