Our Faces, Our Voices

Group Exhibition, co-curated by Raymond Wyatt and Shauna Benoit

Marlene & Spencer Hays Foundation Gallery

September 4 – November 7, 2020 

Exhibition Statement:

The new exhibition, titled “Our Faces, Our Voices,” opening at the Fort Worth Community Art Center, will feature self-portraits from 15 different minority artists of various styles and mediums local to the DFW Metroplex. This art exhibit is co-curated by Raymond Wyatt and Shauna Benoit. 

This exhibition is proud to feature artworks by Jeremy Biggers, Ari Brielle, Dr. Valerie Bennett Gillespie, Riley Holloway, Amanda Jackson, Jerry Lynn, Stacie Monday, JD Moore, Abi Salami, Armando Sebastian, Madelyn Sneed Grays, Susan Sponsler-Carstarphen, Desiree Vaniecia, James Zamora, and Stephen Zhang. These artists’ mediums range from traditional oil paint to photography/video, giving them an unbound expression of their voice. 

Minority men and women have historically been underrepresented in western art. According to a recent study of 18 museums across the U.S., it is estimated that 85% of the art in the museum’s collections are by white artists. The past few years have seen a divergence from this as more artists of color gain national notoriety for their talent and accomplishments. This exhibition seeks to highlight the extraordinary talents of some of the area’s local artists. 

Previously, “master” artists used self-portraits to demonstrate their ability and announce their place within society, their chosen vocation, and artistic style. This collection of self-portraits come from artists who themselves grew up lacking representation of people that looked like them and role models within the art world. In their way, each artist has been giving a voice to aspects of history previously untold and changing the way we see the world and their place in it. 

“Cayendo”

24” x 36”

Oil On Fabric

This self portrait is a continuation of a study series call MŪDE. The purpose of MŪDE is to observe the human figure from obscure and ambiguous perspectives. I chose this image to represent myself because it is a non traditional portrait. My goal is to first, shift from the usually seen image of the “face” found in contemporary black art. Then, I aim to use the ambiguity of my figure to invigorate the imagination of how I am seen, as well as who sees themselves in me.

The title, Cayendo, (Spanish for falling down) inspired from a Frank Ocean song, describes the moment of capture, when I was falling for my now partner, Amanda. A narrative that exists on an island far away from the woes of social injustice. However after much introspection during the painting’s creation, I found within the ambiguity, intersections of racism, identity and sexuality.

“Swimming In The White Place”

A Short Film by Amanda Jackson

I dream in a series of stills sped up, perhaps to reveal the act of searching in a way that my frenzied mind will understand. It seamed fitting for my self portrait to embody the same motion and arouse the same jittered disorientation that I get from truly looking at myself. Motion. It spoke to me in such a way that I couldn’t imaging telling this story with any other medium.

“Swimming in a white place” is an expression of my inability to self identify. A short film exploring my upbringing through the perspective of being “other’d” in a mostly “white” family, and asks the importance of representation within the theoretical village of raising a child. When I show up for myself in this realm of confronting traumas, this part of my raising is always the first to be presented. Therefore if I am to really look within and project an image to the world, it had to reflect this question that I can never seem to find the right words to ask.

My interpretation of the two figures are an allegory for myself and this rather elusive awareness that I am more than what I am currently. This existence that I am presently having is important, however not the objective of my chosen life experience. The agitation and unrest that I am hoping to evoke, is how I render attempting to assimilate for long periods of time on a journey that is not mine.

Artist Panel Discussion 2: Host and co-curator Ray Wyatt and four of the artists featured in the exhibit- Amanda Jackson, Jerry Lynn, JD Moore, and Susan Sponsler-Carstarphen

Artist Panel Discussion 1: Host and co-curator Ray Wyatt and four of the artists featured in the exhibit- Jeremy Biggers, Stacie Monday, Abi Salami, and Desiree Vaniecia