as small as a world and as large as alone

10:18am May 24, 2013

girljanitor:

girljanitor:

Self Evident Truths

S. Ross Browne

Reblog with artists’ statement:

Self Evident Truths

I derived the title for my current series from the United States Declaration of Independence. I can only wonder how the Native Americans and un-emancipated Africans interpreted the document and specifically the phrase: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal…”

My artwork is a modern study in dichotomy and perception from a historical context using portraiture as the interpretive engine. I explore the nuances that relate to my evolving view of the world and transversely the worlds culminating view of me, through the often-occluding filters of culture and race. My intent is to foment thought and discussion by exploring ‘cultural identity’ via the multiple allegorical streams the paintings provide.  

I often use the image of the black woman in unaccustomed/atypical context; derived to create a visual tension between historical fact, misinformation and myth. The viewer is lured into the possible narrative of the depicted figure by her beauty, strength and grace; however immediately enters an intellectual menagerie where they are confounded by the disconnected visual clues. Is she slave or slaveholder? Is she captive or free, is she servant or served? Is she factual or fictional in a historical context? All of these questions and more provide basis for the individual viewers journey of allegorical interpretation.

The images are imbued with cultural and ethnic symbolism that provides insight into the historical context of the painting. Yet, the icons, combined with my personal visual vocabulary, may remain unseen or misread by the “unknowing” eye; the eye that never learned the historic bases for all the possibilities in the lives of these women. In a society that often make instant cultural judgements based on visual cues that are often stereotypical, but not always, I feel offering ethnic imagery that defies common visual library of the modern citizen may challenge each individuals biases and foregone conclusions of their own notions of what race represents in history and therefore in humanity. In some of these paintings there are often the image of a human skull in one way or another. This symbolism is here to remind us of our shared humanity and also as a symbol of change and the very different and personal ways African Americans view and experience transition throughout the course of history.

The images beg the question: Is “Truth” self-evident? Who’s “Truth”? How does knowledge, experience and perception of one’s “self” determine what is evident? If the view of oneself is skewed is it possible to see another clearly?

It is my goal that these images will use technical virtuosity and compelling compositions to make this series visually arresting, but also to help deliver the structured lessons in historical interpretation and omission, African/European cross-cultural influences, and the socio-political impact and power of portraiture.

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