Скачать или смотреть Not Distracted by Shiny Objects | In Conversation with Ebony G. Patterson

Among other materials, Ebony G. Patterson's work includes "bling". As she says, "gaudiness is an overindulgence in prettiness, but is calculated." In her work, bling can be seen as a metaphor for how people are attracted to an idea or a piece of knowledge or information, just as they are drawn to a shiny object. She alludes to the way bling is part of international black popular music culture and viscerally dismisses traditional Western and inherently white ideas of "elevated" aesthetics. Her work integrates bling, bright colors, and images of people who have died violently, demanding further investigation into societal structures that allow such disregard for the bodies and lives of black people. Encouraging viewers to look closely and beyond seductive surfaces, her work engages larger and deeper insights on blackness and culture embedded into and behind the sparkle, shine, and pattern.
–Colette Gaiter

This interview by Professor Colette Gaiter was presented on March 27 as programming for the exhibition Ebony G. Patterson: If We Must Die... at Rowan University Art Gallery. The exhibition was on view from February 11–April 20, 2019. Learn more about this exhibition on Rowan University Art Gallery's website: https://sites.rowan.edu/artgallery/ex...

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