Venise Keys

Womyn Of Color Be Unapologetic In All Your Glory
hand-cut assorted papers
site specific installation

My artistic process is composed of different mediums as a manifestation of how identity requires us to occupy different social roles. I work in painting, drawing, writing, and objects to comment on social conditions and celebrate women of color. My artwork uses images and text to address Black cultural politics, ancestral connections, identity, and sexuality. Cotton flowers, hair combs, cowrie shells, and curvy nude women of color are a few of many recurring symbols. As a same-sex married millennial Black woman, I strongly believe it is my purpose to continue the creative and intellectual work from predecessors in the Harlem Renaissance, the Negritude literary movement, the Black Arts Movement, the Spiral art collective, Where We At art collective, AfriCOBRA, and others alike who use visual art as a tool for liberation.

© Venise Keys