DEBORAH ROBERTS – UNINTERRUPTED
2018-02-12Deborah Roberts states, “Having one’s identity dismantled, marginalized and regulated to non-human status demands action. This led me to critically engage image-making in art history and pop-culture, and ultimately grapple with whatever power and authority these images have over the female figure.” By combining found and manipulated photographs with paintings and drawings, Roberts creates female portraits that challenge myths and stereotypes attached to young black girls. The multi-layered faces of Roberts’ figures exemplify the multiplicity and complexities of black identity, while subverting social ideas that seek to homogenize the black female body. Although they are constructed by photographs of famous individuals, such as Michelle Obama, Willow Smith, and Gloria Steinem, the images are cut and altered beyond recognition to create a portrait that adheres to a more universal beauty standard—one inclusive of women of color.
The subjects of Roberts’ collages are located in the space where social expectations and stereotypes encroach upon the naiveté and innocence of childhood.
With an eight to ten-year-old young black girl as the protagonist of her work, Roberts confronts the ubiquitous influences of popular culture and visual culture on the minds and bodies of young black girls. By reassembling and altering found photographs, Roberts reclaims power over the images that have impacted black women’s self-image since adolescence.
Opposite – Unbothered, 2017
Exhibition runs through to March 17th, 2018
Jenkins Johnson Gallery
464 Sutter Street
San Francisco
94108 CA
