BFA, Studio Art (Painting and Drawing)

Artist Statement

She is… highlights black female beauty and identity. Being biracial has allowed me to question what positive representation of the black female form is and what fetishism is. The bold African patterns used pay homage to African-American heritage and to my own childhood connections as well as traditions of sewing and crocheting. These are traditions that have been passed down from mother to daughter within my family; I use them as ways to create the hair for the figure. The three-dimensional hair is an expression of identity that has been attacked just as much as African-American skin tones. It also allows the figure to be physically present in the space that she inhabits. This series celebrates black women comfortable with their bodies even though throughout history the black female form has been stigmatized as exotic, foreign and erotic. Only recently, have African-American women been portrayed as individuals with identities of their own that emerge from the stereotypes created by historical art and the idealization from society.