Back Cover Artist's Statement

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

• Back Cover Artist's Statement
• Tiffany Lawson (bio)

My art is created from items and images that are at hand and previous drawings collected over time. The practice of collecting and rearranging material acts is an archival process that recovers the past, secures the present, and expects the future. Anchored in my spirituality, culture, and womanhood, I use songs, lyrics, and scripture as mechanisms to create my work largely on brown paper bags, which gives life to my pieces, in that they are recycled, alive. From that base, I build multi-dimensional, layered mediums while employing the use of bricolage. The fabric used is mostly comprising my mother's Wauhtuka Doll scraps. By using multiple disciplines, I create assemblages that explore form and color, unified by the spirit of Black life.

The use of bricolage symbolizes the Black experience and involves and demands the ability to "use what you got." In seemingly insurmountable ways, the spirit of Black life adapts in the most brutal conditions, making beauty, holding sacred, and celebrating Black resilience.

My work also embodies the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi. It is a view employing imperfection and impermanence that requires unbound acceptance to create an appreciation for beauty. I explore wabi-sabi with a focus on relationships and community. Imperfection and impermanence are understood in nature, but humans desire perfection and resist change—a posture that lends itself to hatred, injustice, and inequality. I create value-based work: love, joy, peace, comfort, grace, and mercy, with heavy doses of resistance and empowerment. By accepting imperfections, humanity can evolve, relationships can be reconciled, and communities can be rebuilt by reflecting on the past, acknowledging failures, and expecting new outcomes. [End Page 163]

Tiffany Lawson

TIFFANY LAWSON is a professional multidisciplinary artist, born and raised on the Southside of Columbus, Ohio. Literature, art, and music were anchors in her household, formulating ideas and an undeniable affinity for creativity. Exposed early on to local influences such as Aminah B.L. Robinson, Grandpa Smoky Brown, and Richard Duarte Brown through programs her mother managed at the church across the street from their home, Lawson was also mentored by Gilda Edwards. In 2014, she became a resident artist at Millworks Studios, where she began to show her work professionally. A master urban farmer since 2019, she also holds a certificate as an art therapy life coach. In 2021 she was awarded the inaugural residency at the Columbus Cultural Arts Center. She is currently artist in residence at Streetlight Guild in Columbus, Ohio.

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