ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Crystal Paris is an American, multidisciplinary, Wearable Arts designer specializing in mixed media art, textiles, and collage painting. A product of the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), the Georgia native’s creative aesthetic is known to be both progressive and well-developed; sophisticated and contemporary, bridging the gap between historical narratives and modern thought perspectives.
Paris’s work often pays homage to iconic figures of the Black and African Diasporas, intricately weaving stories of love, life, tradition, culture, lineage, and kinship. From the Atlantic Slave trade to the present-day, each hand-stitched and embroidered detail, customarily includes embellishments such as pearls, flowers, and fabrics, which are utilized as a nod to divine femininity and nature’s timeless beauty. These material components serve as inspiration and self-expression of her creative oeuvre.
At its core, Ethereal honors the lives of black women whose very existence was brought to an early end by violence, brutality, and other heinous and unjust atrocities. The artist draws from her own personal connection to her subjects as a black woman, and from the complexities of the socio-economic politics of race, gender, and power dynamics within the United States.
Paris believes that “even in tragedy black women are routinely stripped of the multi-faceted layers of their identity, while the validity of their stories are diluted to fit more palatable narratives of who they are, who they were, and who they are destined to be”. Each piece encapsulates these women not as martyrs, but as monarchs, thus adorning their images with elaborate gems and symbols commonly associated with royalty.
Serving as the canvas for the imagery displayed in this exhibition, the raw cotton T-shirt is employed to commemorate mourning, ritualized to honor the deceased, as with victims of gun violence in African American communities. Design elements typically used, such as graffiti, text, and airbrushed portraiture, are replaced with multicolored beadwork, and other ornate fabrics, immortalizing the women featured, through crafted artistry and illustrative iconography.
Ethereal represents the resilience of the black woman in her graceful yet spiritual form. Celestial in her beauty and strength, yet wholly unseen and unprotected by a society that maligns her.
Paris laments,
“The black woman bears the brunt of the ills of society. Her body often revered as both prototype and commodity. She is iconic through her creations, and nameless at the hands of her oppressors. I am a reflection of the women honored here, their names etched in time before me, and the names that have yet to come. I live their truth in reflection, ethereal”.
MEET THE ARTIST
EXHIBITION GALLERY
Untitled, 2021
The resilience of the black woman in her graceful yet spiritual form. Celestial in her beauty and strength, yet wholly unseen and unprotected by a society that maligns her.
MATERIALS
Direct-to-Garment (DTG) printing on raw organic cotton, imported fine lace, rhinestones, crystals, hand-embroidered and embellished.