UF SA+AH Painting and Drawing Majors
Virtual BFA Exhibitions
Virtual BFA Exhibitions
Julie Jean-Mary, Detangle, Leave-in, & Moisturize
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| Julie Jean-Mary, Curls and Combs |
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| Julie Jean-Mary, What to do, What to do |
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| Julie Jean-Mary, Entangled Plaits |
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| Julie Jean-Mary, Detangle |
Artist Statement
For generations, society has maintained the European standard of beauty as ideal. Therefore, people of other ethnic and racial backgrounds, with darker skin tones, and hair types that divert from established norms, do not fit the established standard. In my work I specifically emphasize natural hair and textures of hair that are underrepresented, undervalued and viewed as less-than. My work centers, magnifies and exalts Black hair and pushes this signifier for identity to the foreground. Through a broad range of techniques, ranging from collage and sculpture to painting, I question the narrow confines of Western standardized beauty and call for more inclusive celebrations. Influenced by traditions of iconography and portraiture, I subvert these motifs by embellishing my works with bright colors and everyday objects, emphasizing African diasporic and Haitian cultural patterns and palettes.