Ebony
Morris

My work often examines the intersection of racial and cultural identity, expressions of femininity, familial relationship, legacy, love and memory.  As a Black American woman with multiracial heritage, born and raised in Oakland, California, I have often thought about the implications of what it means to occupy an identity that was created at the crux of a multiplicity of cultures and how it functions in relation to a larger diaspora. However, I am largely interested not in sorrow, but in the beautiful culture that has come from such a painful history. I largely work with oil paints and figuration to uplift my community to the larger understanding of portraiture. More specifically, engaging in a conversation of what it means to carefully and meticulously capture an individual in their own respective space and the power that honoring these details offer. 

Although I am a painter, photography typically plays a large role in my painting processes as it allows me to construct an image and capture a moment with people, often my family and close friends, that I love and have a personal connection with. Being that photography functions as a prominent aspect of my work, I think about the historical implications of photography within the Black American home as tools of representation, and consequently, access. Growing up, going to each of my grandmother’s homes, the portraits of family members and loved ones operated as a private gallery space of sorts, which has impacted how I have chosen to engage with the subjects in my paintings. As illustrated by bell hooks, photography allows for “a space for intimacy between the image and myself,” we are able to construct our own representation of our identity in a society that constantly assigns us a narrative that removes us from our own humanity. Photography and the visual aesthetics that are associated with the medium allows me to define myself for myself and in turn engage in a collective memory that transcends the colonial gaze. 

Some of the photographs I base my paintings off of are taken in passing, when moments between my loved ones catch my eye, while some of these photos are more curated. Although photography plays an instrumental role in the production of my work, I think there is great value in how the world is filtered through the painting process. 

Painting creates a new environment that is not bound by the limitations imposed by reality. I typically will use the images I take to contextualize the composition of the figures, not to render these scenes as direct replicas of the photographs I take. Having grown up in a spiritual household, the women in my family instilled in me the importance of tending to the relationship we have with our ancestors and the people that came before us. The purpose of illustrating a painting within a painting offers the function of an altar and renders feelings of familiarity of the people we choose to hang on the walls around us. I also chose to include mirrors as one of the many objects that frame the figures as they allow ourselves to see us reflected in the people hanging in our walls, or the viewer to see themselves in that reflection. 

While aware of identity politics, I am most interested in constructing a reality that stems from my emotional response to the subjects, an opportunity to construct a physical existence that is not limited by the imposed narrative assigned to Black American identity. I am most interested in the way an individual is reflected in their own curated space, a process of self-identification and self-actualization.