“Now We Can Deal with the Nuances of Who We Are”

Deborah Roberts, The burden, 2019. Mixed media and collage on linen, 65 × 45 in. Private collection. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London.

© Deborah Roberts.

amy sherald and deborah roberts are friends, fellow southerners, and tremendously talented artists. Each in her own way makes work that is meaningful without being didactic and facilitates thoughtful, critical consideration. What better people to talk with about the bounds of representation and the possibilities of portraiture? In January 2020, we caught up by phone in our respective locations—Amy in New Jersey, Deborah in Austin, Texas, and me in Durham, North Carolina—to talk about their work, ideas, and influences. This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

deborah roberts:

I first met you in person at Theaster Gates’s Black Artists Retreat. Then I found out we had a lot of things in common, we both did work that featured black women, and talking about beauty, and, I guess, our place in society. I think at the time you [painted] multiple ages of your girls, but they were kind of young, right?

amy sherald:

Yeah. They were always young and not on purpose, I think.

dr:

Right.

as:

When you think about it, you’re making work for everyone, but you’re really also thinking about the future and generations that are growing up to go into these museum spaces and institutions. So it came to have that meaning, but I don’t think I really thought about the ages of people. It’s just the people that I encountered happened to be teenagers or in their twenties, and it just worked out.

teka selman:

What was it like being at the Black Artists Retreat?

dr

It was awesome.

as:

Good. For me, it was the first time I had comrades, you know what I mean? It was seeing everybody in real life and in person. I think we’re all in our studios all the time and not all of us have those communities in our cities where we get to, as working contemporary artists, come together in the same space and feel each other’s energy and talk to one another. So it was great.

dr:

After that, you went on to start doing your own practice just like I did.

as:

We were around the same place in our lives, kind of.

dr:

Right, right. We had been working a long time. And just sticking with it and hoping that what has happened would happen. I don’t know how you feel. I’m really happy with the success that I’ve had. I think people who want this as an artist don’t know how much hard, hard work it takes. I think this is harder than us struggling. I don’t know. That may not be your experience . . .

ts:

I know so many people at the Black Artists Retreat or at any of these sort of big gatherings [who] are trying to move to New York and make it there, as opposed to staying where they are. So did you guys know that you were both not in New York? Did you know you were both from the South? Did you know you were both working outside of the two major [art markets on] the coasts?

as:

Yeah, I didn’t know Deborah was from Texas.

dr:

I was still in Syracuse when I was first introduced to Amy’s work. I was still struggling with what I wanted to do as an artist, moving forward in my practice. I remember [Baltimore-based artist] Zoe Charlton saying, “Look at Amy’s work. My friend Amy Sherald. Google it.” She’s like, “Google it while I’m on the phone.” She did that to me a lot of times. She said “while I’m on the phone” because she knew I probably wouldn’t do it. I was like, “Damn, this is good.” I think the first one I saw was the...