ARTIST STATEMENT
My artwork is rooted in my curiosity about self-preservation and fugitivity, beginning with personal experience and expanding into Black historical lineages. I draw on literature, personal writing, Black speculative fiction, and memory work to envision worlds where Black femmes live freely and with opacity. My process combines archival research, intergenerational dialogue, dreaming, and community organizing, using these tools to create spaces of safety. While I primarily create photographic work, I am material-agnostic; the research determines the medium. Ultimately, I recontextualize fine art as craft and necessity, aiming for my work to be a mental playground where Black people can pause and dream.
This work is from my series “I Saw Things I Imagined,” an experiment in Afro-fabulation inspired by memories of my mother’s hair salon. The images feature 13-foot-long wigs, braided collaboratively by myself, friends, and family. This series expands the beauty salon into an imaginative space where Black femmes create futures, collaborate, and engage in self-care.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
stevia roxanne. is a Bassa and Bamileke interdisciplinary artist and visual storyteller from Chicago, IL. roxanne.’s work explores the intersection of gender, culture, migration, nature, identity, memory, and the body to imagine celebratory spaces for the Black femmes and Black queer people. Through photography, film, and archival images, Roxanne engages with Black histories to envision alternative worlds where Black people rest, collaborate, and exist unperturbed.
roxanne.’s practice is rooted in community work, and they enjoy collaborating with friends and family. roxanne. seeks to deconstruct Western definitions of art and redefine who is considered an artist and what qualifies as art. stevia’s work serves as a space for Black folk to pause, dream, and play.
roxanne. has exhibited at the Museum of Science and Industry, Gallatin Galleries at NYU, Tisch Galleries at NYU, The Gallery at 20 Cooper Square, Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University, Photoville at the Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Global Citizen Festival, Satellite Gallery, 4Elements Studio, and the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. Their work has been published in the New York Times, Facing History, Washington Square News, and YoungArts. roxanne. earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from NYU Tisch in 2025.
© stevia roxanne.