Anique Edwards

Through my artwork, I am hoping to achieve an accurate portrayal of love, and what that means in different contexts. One way I try to accomplish that is by depicting women of color. As a black woman, I often find it empowering to depict people who look like me in my art. Through artistic representation, I believe the restrictive forces of neocolonialism and European imperialism can be countered, and my artwork serves as testimony to that; testimony that countering these forces is a form of love. My vision for presenting this body of work emulates the principles of community. Often I draw women of color, because that community is one I am surrounded by, and therefore inspired by. Another aspect of my vision focuses on mental health. The two concepts are interconnected and I would like for my audience to acknowledge the influence women of color had in their lives and as well as recognize the implications regarding mental health that comes with being a woman of color.

Anything that gives me structure, which is a form of love, is something of interest for me to portray. My art process often starts off as being more emotionally rooted, and not very structured. The process is rather therapeutic for me at the start. However, as I start to develop my piece, I bond with it. My attention, then turns to make the piece something meaningful--something I connect with love. In my work most recently, I experiment with collage and photography to an extent and how it can be used to create scenes that are chaotically structured, going back to the element of love, and how it can be altered and modified to manifest as different versions of itself. My artwork is essentially versatile, in the sense that what I’m trying to portray takes many forms. A combination of Watercolor and acrylic paint is also seen in the overwhelming majority of my pieces. The fluidity that watercolor offers allows me to morph shapes into more concrete aspects of the piece as I get more inspired. Starting off with blotches of color inspires me to see beyond and envision what the piece could be. This vague nature watercolor is an asset. Many of the pieces portrayed have color as the central identifying formal quality. Color in my artwork represents life and viability. In my mixed media piece influenced by my concussion and the sensation of being “trapped” I used very little color and emphasized empty space. The same concept can be seen in my “Layers or the Mind piece” where I used patterns and negative space to establish a sense of structure but also containment.

An artist who has significantly inspired my work is Mickalene Thomas. Born in New Jersey in 1971, she lives in Brooklyn currently and continues her artwork there. Much of her art is inspired by her life and the experiences she had growing up, which mostly pertained to her race, sexuality, and gender. Thomas speaks on representation, stating, “To see yourself, and for others to see you, is a form of validation. I'm interested in that very mysterious and mystical way we relate to each other in the world” (Thomas). Her art of black women portrayed their identities strongly and romanized the ideas of power and what it meant to be feminine. Femininity is something that is both very intentional and subconsciously infused into my artwork.

The way my work is set up allows for the viewer to view the color potent pieces first. The organization of my pieces is testimony to my belief of color as a means of gathering attention from a collective of people. Organizing the color-saturated pieces together allow for them to function as a series; They complete each other in a way isolation could not achieve. Having the photography pieces together allows for it to feel like there is a narrative to the chaos. This again, speaks to my theme of structured chaos.

Some strategies I use for the viewer to connect with the art is by creating pieces that have abstract elements to them. While people are often the subject, and focus in my work, I add vagueness regarding the setting, which allows for the viewer to infer, and therefore become emotionally invested in the piece. The arrangement of my pieces allows for the abstract backgrounds to be just as visible as the subjects.