Artist Statement

Images don’t prompt me to create. Words do. I spend an inordinate amount of time reading, writing, and researching, before I even approach my canvass. If I am interested in a particular concept, it’s nine times out of ten influenced from reading an essay or an article, rather than looking at a work of art. My artwork toggles between stereotypes and representation and it magnifies the subtlety of racial constructs and how viewers have become comfortable with derogatory images. Whether through paintings, drawings, or photographs, I seek to examine how black culture is codified and commodified.

I’ve been intrigued by the black female body in contemporary visual culture and I’m piqued by how her physical size is supposed to dictate a certain set of ideals and behavior. Borrowing from Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, I chronicled my journey through the Caribbean and West Africa in a series of drawings entitled The Capture. These mixed media pieces, textual mélanges of ink, oil, graphite, and charcoal, depict voluptuous female figures amid a strange world of decay and destruction.

The Capture is the initial phase to constructing a non-typical black female heroine persona. By delving into the subconscious mind of a fictitious black heroine and the ephemeral quality of her thoughts and experiences, The Capture is an attempt to structure a new mythology that explores black female sexuality and sensuality.

Florine Demosthene, The Lure of the Tenderonies (2011) Ink, charcoal, and oil bar of polypropelene (24” x 36”)

Florine Demosthene, The Capture (2009) Ink and charcoal on mylar over a cyanotype print (24” x 36”)

Florine Demosthene, What I Should Have Said (2010) Ink, charcoal, and oil bar on polypropelene (18” x 24”)

Florine Demosthene, The Debacle (2014) Ink, charcoal, oil bar, and metal leaf on polypropelene (30” x 42”)

Florine Demosthene, Untitled (2009) Watercolor on paper (4” x 9”)

Florine Demosthene, Untitled (2013) Acrylic on canvas (62.9” x 39.3”)