The Color Purple, 2016
Haitian-born, Brooklyn-based mixed media artist and photographer Fabiola Jean-Louis makes a striking debut with Rewriting History: Paper Gowns and Photographs, currently on view at the Harlem School of the Arts.
Inspired by the attire of 15th-19th century gentry, Jean-Louis uses history to examine the past, the present, and the future.
Rewriting History: paper gowns and photographs is an inquiry into social change. How much has society really changed since the beginning of slavery? Do Black lives matter even in the 21st century? The exhibition interrogates these questions and more through a haunting photographic essay and paper sculptures styled to mimic garments worn by female European nobility between the 15th – 19th centuries. As part of a developing master series of paper gown sculptures, the series speaks to the shocking treatment of Blacks throughout history and the trauma inflicted on their bodies as juxtaposed with the abstract idea of Black freedom.
Madame Beauvoir’s Painting, 2016
Rest in Peace, 2016
Madame Leroy (le-wah), 2016
Rewriting History: paper gowns and photographs is open to the public and on view at the Harlem School of the Arts from now until March 1st. For more information GO HERE.
