Portrait of the Poet
Tobey Parker (2019)
This piece, Portrait of the Poet, is a portrait of my mother. The medium used is acrylic paint on canvas and stretched it within an embroidery hoop. I wanted to emphasize the domestic setting of this painting through the use of the hoop. The inclusion of the green background and pine-cones are a tribute to my mother’s past living in South Carolina before moving to NYC in the ‘70s.
This piece is not the first portrait I’ve painted of my mother but I feel that I had not captured her essence in a way that speaks to her caring and peaceful soul. I think honoring Black women is always important and it especially is now in a time where everyone must confront their biases and are unable to look away from the injustice which Black people face their entire lives. Of course the Black experience is no monolith, but by seeing someone like you in art can have a huge impact on your self image, and through this piece I want to not only honor my mother but all Black women. Seeing Wangechi Mutu’s The NewOnes, will free Us in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts’ facade was very inspiring to me because it declared that institutions that have centered whiteness and men are growing and listening. While museums nowadays flaunt how progressive they are, they were still built on the theft of items from BIPOC [Black, Indigenous People Of Color] and have always raised art made by white men to the highest standard. I think Mutu’s piece tells BIPOC that there is a place for them to engage with this institution, and makes the work Black women have always done in these spaces visible. In my work I want to create a similar space for those who may not have been able to see their work as high art and make people know that they can be in conversation with these institutions. It is imperative that we share our experiences because intersectionality and representation are the ways we can truly make space for everyone, and through this piece I hope to be furthering that.
Tobey Parker (2019) “Portrait of the Poet.” Acrylic on canvas with embroidery hoop.