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Black History Month
The Importance of Modern Black Artists in the Canon of Collective HistoryFebruary is a time of celebration, a month wherein we acknowledge the people fundamental to the essence of our country and reflect on how far we’ve got to go. If it is widely accepted that artists are the purveyors of culture, then the Black communities of our country have been elemental in setting the course of our collective way of life. *
Throughout the history of the African Diaspora, artists and creatives have been purged from or simply intentionally buried by the canon of recorded memory. An ironic reality is that Black art and culture in America has been part of the bedrock of our society, and yet experiences constant othering and repression. Starting, informing, and cultivating some of the most significant cultural shifts in our young country, the importance of Black artists, not only in America but worldwide, has been grossly overlooked.
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Laetitia Adam-RabelInfinite Power, 2021Mixed Media58.4 x 58.4 cmInfinite Power
The multifaceted mind of Haitian-American artist Laetitia Adam-Rabel is an explorative wonder. Unencumbered by confining herself to a single medium, Adam-Rabel addresses social and personal issues like climate change, Blackness, feminism, inclusion, and motherhood in creating a better world. She uses painting, textile work, photography, videography, and sound art, blending the pain found in the human experience with aesthetics to present work with a captivating, refined visual energy. Much of the work evokes an otherworldly experience, something on the fringes of lived experience and a dream.
“I interpret my work as ever-evolving, just as we humans evolve. We are never the same from one instant to another; we are changed by our experiences, circumstances and wisdom. Likewise, I change through my work as my work changes by my hand.”
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There is an obvious sense of the inner child in Adam-Rabel’s work in a way that speaks to a curious observation of the world, embodied by a mature introspection gained from experiencing life. Her pieces have an unbound creative autonomy to them, demonstrative of a unique voice that is unbridled by perfection and expectations of excellence. Instead, she places emphasis on the healing process and the innate innocence of expression. There is a bewitching quality to Adam-Rabel’s artistry; it easily captures what many artists spend years seeking to achieve in the purity of its countenance and the depths of its emotion.
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More about Laetitia Adam-Rabel
