ARTIST STATEMENT
As an interdisciplinary artist and designer, my practice reflects the ways that I engage in the radical traditions of adorning, collecting, clustering, and congregating. Each of these meditative actions possess a transformative quality– making them powerful vehicles for space-making, caretaking; and, when performed routinely, healing rituals. Using an alchemic combination of hair, gold hoops, acrylic nails, repetitive patterns, and reflective surfaces, my works are heavily influenced by the 1970’s/80s, NOLA culture, and my matrilineal line. Notions of the metaphysical, the spiritual, the speculative and the surreal are grounded in my practice as I explore the ways I, as Black Women, have the agency to claim, create, and convert the spaces I desire. Through my installations, surface designs, material manipulations, and sculptural objects, I investigate my personal narrative through a sensationalized lens as grounds for building an ideal world for my younger and future selves.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jade Williams (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist and designer whose practice reflects the ways that she engages in the radical traditions of alteration, adornment, collecting, and congregating. Each of these meditative actions possess a transformative quality, making them powerful vehicles for space making; and, when performed routinely, healing rituals. Using hair, gold hoops, acrylic nails, original surface patterns, and ornate fabrics, her works are heavily influenced by the 1970’s/80s, metaphysics and her matrilineal line. Jade received her BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign and is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her works have been exhibited at spaces including the Krannert Art Museum, the Evanston Art Center, the Leather Archives and Museum, Slate Arts and Performance Center, and Woman Made Gallery. Jade is a 2020 recipient of the One State Artist Project Grant, a 2021 recipient of the National Black Arts Festival Artist Project Fund, and a 2021 HATCH Artist Resident with the Chicago Artists Coalition. She currently lives and works in the Greater Chicago Area.
© Jade Williams