the black myth

The black myth

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Patrice Rose’s The Black Myth is a series of delicate textile silk-screen paintings that examine the visibility of the black image within historical visual culture. Inspired by renaissance art and ancient mythology Patrice explores the on-going paradox of visibility and invisibility of the black presence in Euro-American society. The work denotes the constant negotiation of power predicated through images of race and highlights the importance of accurate representation in a multi-ethnic society.

 

In these series of presented textile silk-screen paintings Patrice displays ‘The Black Venus’, 'Olaudah Equiano' and ‘Edmonia Lewis’. In the collection Patrice depicts African-American neo-classical sculptor Edmonia Lewis born in 1844 during slavery. She became the first Black and Native American sculptor to gain international fame leaving a notable impact in historical art, making her work surpass her complex social-identity, yet she still remains relatively invisible within the artistic cannon. ‘The Black Venus’ combines and reimagines Sandro Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Thomas Stothard’s The Voyage of The Sable Venus from Angola to the West Indies in the large-scale luminous print. Patrice explores the contrasting depiction of black and white desirability, how it is weaponized within art and the visual culture for political agendas to uphold racial myths and hierarchy within western society.