Seeing Ourselves

10 May-6 Jul 2024

Overview

“My work aims to explore and indulge in the multiplicity of Blackness and the embrace of our non-monolithic experiences.” 

Walters explores themes of identity and representation through fragile and detailed paper cut-outs and collages where she creates multi-layered portraits in which she, literally and metaphorically, opens up space. These dimensional portraits provide a portal and empower those who are often excluded and unheard in mainstream Western society. She creates an alternative narrative which reflects the complexity of these women’s stories and experiences. 

The title ‘Seeing Ourselves’ references the book by Frances Borzello which surveyed centuries of self portraits by white Western women artists. In her series ‘Seeing Ourselves’, Walters reclaims space to create a new inclusive way of seeing Black women. Her work is a response to this absence of their own reflections in mainstream Western media, arts and cultural life. 

“I started making the work as a reaffirmation to take up space even in spaces where I did not see myself reflected back.”

Walters is an agent of change and notes that her own vulnerability allows her to create this work, motivated by a commitment to create visibility and accessibility for Black women. 

“If we don’t see ourselves represented back, it can act as a barrier to not succeeding” 

She draws on a myriad of material to create her portraits from magazine clippings to photos taken by herself, and other images donated by women globally and in this way she generates multiple conversations about empowerment, diversity and representation.

Artists