The European Renaissance
Inspired by, is an episodic series exploring various creative media and movements throughout history. You'll find themes that had an impactful influence on my artistic development.
In a recent revisit to the work of the Italian Renaissance, I admired the techniques that drew me in when I was first introduced to the period two decades ago. Expert use of sfumato and chiaroscuro to accentuate and highlight all the detail and beauty in the subject is what I wanted to try and bring into my photographs.
In the current political and social climate in the United States, I could not avoid looking at these historic works with fresh eyes of my time. In doing so, it became glaring the way that people of color, particularly women of color, were being depicted in these paintings that I so admired. Considering that the most admired creators of this time were European, white men, it is not necessarily surprising that women of color were often symbolically othered from the creamy-skinned subjects of their work, if they were included at all. I would encourage you to watch a video by Art in Color (referenced below), reflect, and ask yourself where else you may have seen this type of othering throughout artistic history up to current day.
My vision for this work is to depict women of color in such a way that reflects their true beauty. I want to recreate feelings of opulence in order to showcase humans of the global majority in positions of power, intellect, and comfort.
Resources and Influencing works:
Titian, Diana and Actaeon, 1556–1559
Édouard Manet, Olympia, 1863-1865
Jacopo da Pontormo, Portrait of Maria Salviati de’ Medici and Giulia de’ Medici, 1537
Art in Color, Black Women in Renaissance Art, 2021 (available on YouTube)
