Art Exhibit: It Is Still Our Time by Latoya Lovely
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View Upcoming EventsPortland Center Stage will host IT IS STILL OUR TIME, an art exhibit by Portland-based multidisciplinary artist Latoya Lovely that draws upon the intersections of "the magic of being a Black woman" and her lived experience as a working mother and artist.
The exhibit is on display to view daily now through March 2, 2024.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Dat Stretch Tho: The magic of being a Black woman.
Raindrops on Eyelashes: I got to her. I used to look at people or images, and I would see everything, the shadows, the different colors, the shapes, but I didn't know how to get there. And I got to her. She was there waiting for me on the other side of those raindrops and her dreams, her thoughts are for us. Not you.
Untitled (file is named door woman for reference): While searching online for a reference photo for this piece, I found very few Black women and a multitude of white women. So I chose myself. I took my own photo and ran with it. And I will continue choosing myself along with my brothers and sisters in my art.
Follow Latoya Lovely on Instagram here.
Latoya Lovely, a muck-grown, self-taught artist from Belle Glade, Florida, creates so that her community and her son can explode triumphantly from a society which chooses not to see their magic so that they can see their beautiful brown faces and hear their rich, powerful voices forever. Lovely is a professional dancer and educator and has known since she was a child that she wanted to color for the rest of her life.
She has painted several murals around Portland, including at Alberta House, CoHo Productions Theatre, Portland Center Stage at The Armory, Oliver Middle School, among others. In addition, her work is part of the Portland State University Art Collection and the Portable Works Collection through RACC.
As a Black woman, Lovely deals with colorism in her art, a form of racism where those with lighter skin, European features, are given preference over those with darker skin, and texturism which is the discrimination against people with kinkier, coarse hair within the same race. Lovely’s practice speaks to the atrophy of the family unit due to capitalism which forces society to push families to the side to show themselves as valuable and hardworking citizens. She does so by sharing her career with her son, who is ever-present on mural projects, residencies, and workshops where he is welcomed to create within the beauty of intergenerational spaces.
In this way, Lovely accesses the freedom to pursue her passion without always being hindered by the financial obligations of seeking childcare, or the guilt which society expects her to harbor for taking care of family first, sand she grants herself permission to grow in her practice in a meaningful and intentional way which in turn nurtures her child’s growing love of the arts. Her work is a vibrant celebration of the wonder and awe we as Black people have always inspired throughout the world.
Follow Latoya Lovely on Instagram here.
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