Interpretations of Black Female Beauty | Part II
Seeing My Work Through The Eyes of Another
In Part II of this post, I conclude Spencer's review of my second work, Walking through the Upside-Down World, and present the introduction to Chapter Three of her thesis. I realize it is out of order from the original text but bare with me. I feel it is significant to share her positioning of my work with Charly Palmer and give you context to how Charly and I work together.
For the past three years Charly and I have been studio mates and accountability partners. While we maintain individual studios on the same floor, we are constantly in and out of each other's space discussing everything from the progress of current work to keeping each other on track with our studio goals, we share our inspirations, frustrations of the moment, materials, and, most important, make sure we have the right food and beverages in the studio to keep everything going smoothly. (I'm currently going through a Prosecco phase and accepting all donations!)
As artists we feed off of each other's energy and I can't begin to put into words how our friendship has influenced the development of my work. Being a full-time artist can be lonely at times for it is mainly a solitary affair; the real work takes place inside our heads before the first brush stroke is made. Organically, we have created this beautiful supportive ecosystem that has become intrigue to both of our practice. Without a doubt, our studios are both sacred spaces for creation and our happy places! I do hope you enjoy Part II of the series. Once Spencer's thesis becomes public, I will post the link in a future post for your reading pleasure!
Part II "Aesthetic Liberation: Contemporary Black Visual Art and Typologies of Activism in Atlanta"
Spencer Stultz
Thesis | Syracuse University, May 2019
Walking through the Upside-Down World depicts a woman who is alone as far as the viewer can tell. She is mid-stride and appears to have her arms crossed in front of her. The background is cut from Japanese Chiyogami paper and has been shaped into large wavy swaths that move diagonally across the image’s surface, creating a sense of rhythm between the undulations of orange paper with yellow rippling swirls and undulations of golden paper. The movement is not linear, and coupled with the upside-down bouquets of pink and white flowers there is a sense of displacement and otherworldliness. The viewer can see that the figure is not looking straight ahead, but her chin is tilted downward as if she is staring at the ground as she walks. She could be watching the ground attentively as she carefully picks out a pathway for herself because of the displacement she may feel from being right side-up in an upside-down world; or, she may be lost in her own thoughts. Either way, she appears to be frustrated, her arms folded and drawn tightly to her sides. It is unclear whether her frustrations lay in the fact that she is walking in an upside-down world, or if it is her frustrations that are causing her world to be turned upside down. All of these deductions are both a matter of perspective and interpretations, which illustrates the aforementioned point about Tracy’s approach to her work. She does not always take clear stances and focuses more on the presentation of the image. She creates work that beautifully depicts black women. The ambiguity of some of her images provides a sense of freedom to the viewer, where they are able to insert their own understanding of her work instead of only seeing what she prompts the viewer to see.
Both Palmer and Murrell have the ability to speak in an emotional language through their art. This is where the power of their work resides - in its emotional complexity. As artists, their focus is to simply express themselves, and, through this practice, they are able to communicate in the Universal Language of the Soul of the World (Coelho) that is transcendent of time and space. Although their work is grounded deeply in the identity politics that they engage (both directly and at times in more subtle ways), both artists are still able to create works that people of all walks of life can appreciate, engage, and connect to. Their work is discursive, with the ability to communicate ideas that expand on larger social experiences and political events.
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Chapter Three – History Makers and Re-Interpreters: Engaging the Soul of the World through Art-Making
This chapter explores the visual art of Charly Palmer and Tracy Murrell, artists who have very different artistic practices and aesthetic styles yet share some basic similarities. They both present their work in a way that represents familiar subject matter to viewers. In other words, they provide a re-introduction of the subjects they depict. The artists also engage issues without appearing to present a definitive activist perspective. For example, instead of asserting that black people are strong or the best at something, the artists present them in ways they consider to be true. These commonalities do not obscure the artists’ distinctive approaches.
In this chapter I analyze how visual art can engage larger social issues even when it is not presented as propaganda. I explore how both Palmer and Murrell’s art communicates ideas that are bigger and deeper than what is depicted in ways that are at times very subtle, searching for ways to locate the power of visual art that is beyond words. I do not place these artists in the same chapter based on similar art practices. Rather, I chose to engage these artists together because their artwork elicits the same reaction from me. Kerry Marshall describes this reaction as “that physical sensation, a shiver induced by the mere sight of a thing, is the elusive charge sought after, rarely achieved, and even more difficult to sustain by any artists trafficking in the allure of images. This is the ineffable dimension of art often labeled “the sublime” (Marshall, p. 19). Their work constantly elicits reactions from me that are beyond the scope of words. Both of these artists are able, through their art, to tap into a place that is reminiscent of Paulo Coelho’s description of the Soul of the World in his novel The Alchemist, or “The Force” of Star Wars films (Rolling).