Artist Statement and Background to Thesis

I create work based on themes of challenging photography as documentation, what it means to have a “truthful” image, and introspection through self-portraiture as a form of meditation. Although mostly image based, my work also exists as poetry, sculptural installation, and in multimedia formats. I explore how the layering of hidden images, both digitally and physically, can warp the audience’s perspective on what is being viewed.

The majority of my photos are taken on 35mm black and white Infrared film that only captures infrared wavelengths of light, which are usually invisible to the naked eye. These extremely tonally contrasted photos act as a tunnel through which my ideas flow, often containing self portraits taken in surroundings I have frequented while growing up in Richmond. I originally started making this work to confront my feelings of being trapped or confined in the same place, never having moved or lived anywhere else.

Last summer I studied abroad in Berlin, Germany. My time was filled with exhibition openings, private collection tours, and developing a project in a communal residency studio space for a group exhibition during my four weeks in Berlin. One of the most notable visits I remember was to the Berlin Biennale, where I saw the work of Dineo Seshee Bopape, a South African artist who currently lives in Johannesburg. She studied painting and sculpture at the Durban Institute of Technology, and graduated from De Ateliers in Amsterdam in 2007. In 2010 she received an MFA from Columbia University. In her work is where I began to notice the difference between the way art created by black people is displayed internationally vs. in the United States.

I realized that the black art I’ve seen in the U.S. is almost forced to ascribe to certain standards, whether it’s related to fashion, pop culture, or current political events. The black art I saw in Berlin felt more raw and honest; work that highlighted pain and African discourse without being designed to educate others about their privilege. The work simply exists as a statement itself.

When I returned for the Fall 2018 semester and began my thesis, I found my images to represent identity on a bigger scale, not just personally but socially. Drawing inspiration from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk and Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks, I began producing photographs to express the idea of double consciousness, which describes the feeling of having more than one social identity, which makes it difficult to establish a sense of self. These photos are often accompanied by poetry, which is commentary on the navigation of life as a black female artist, and questions if my work can only exist in a category of “black art” simply because I am a black artist.

Despite feeling a sense of confinement in my home city, I am learning to transform that mindset into one of appreciation for the uniqueness of the place I have grown up. I have transitioned into drawing more from academics such as James Baldwin and Langston Hughes, who not only focus on social identity, but reign it back down to personal experience.

Being a black woman and drawing creative influences from a place that was known as the capital of the confederacy is a phrase that speaks volumes itself. I am constantly searching for a balance in my work that showcases not only the psychological boundaries and challenges I encounter, but my immense gratitude for the privileges I’ve possessed while becoming a young adult. I want this work to communicate not only my appreciation and certain nostalgia I have for Richmond, but also my strong desire and crave for change of environment.