Darlene Deloris

Visual Description: Eight mixed media portraits of black and brown women and non cisgender figures are hung in salon style on navy colored walls. Below the portraits, a black wooden desk is adorned with colorful fabrics, Africana objects, and copies of Life and Ebony magazine. A mirror with a black wooden frame is hung on the wall.

Curatorial Description: In Search of Black Wanderlust (ISOBW) presents eight mixed media portraits of Black and Brown cis/trans women and non-binary individuals. The artist has utilized ethnographic research to obtain raw and in depth interviews with the sitters, by posing them all with the single question, “what was your childhood like?” From this, beautifully complex conversations unravel, illuminating different aspects of each sitter’s life which become preserved and memorialized in their portraits. Their identities and stories are translated onto the canvas through the manipulation of acrylic paint, collaged photographs, and gold leaf.

The installation is an ode to items that may have appeared in the homes of many Black American and/or African homes in America over the last 30 years. The table is the artist Darlene Deloris's personal possession, and the items on it constitute part of her private collection of Black Americana and Africana. The statues were gifts to the artist from her mother when she moved out on her own. The archival photo book chronicles the artist's ethnographic process, featuring notes, personal letters from the subjects to their ancestors, and polaroid images of the subjects taken by the artist. The items on the table are meant to be touched, explored, and examined. Visitors are welcome to handle the objects on the table.

This project stems from the erasure of Black and Brown histories through enslavement. While elements of this project stem from difficulty, sadness, and even anger, the artist works to translate these narratives into an inviting series of portraits. Each piece asks the viewer to look and linger a little longer, as an active participant in deciphering the deeper meanings behind the pieces. Through this process, the artist creates an active archive, preserving her sitters’ own histories, and interrogating the way in which Black and Brown people have been traditionally left out of the canon of history.

Scan this QR code or follow this link if you would like to be considered as a future participant in the artist’s In Search of Black Wanderlust (ISOBW) project:

About

Born in Atlanta, GA in the 1980s, Brooklyn based multi-disciplinary artist Darlene Deloris studied History and African American Studies at the University of Georgia and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A in Historical Studies from SUNY Empire State University. Deloris is a self-taught artist using ethnographic research and a variety of mediums, texture, colors, and symbols to create portraits that give voice to the Black woman who is constantly transposing between a state of angst and of regality. She began pursuing an art career In 2014 and moved to NY. Deloris instructs art classes and has orchestrated hundreds of art projects for children between the ages of 2-14, in public and private facilities. Currently she is a teaching artist with Supermoon Community Artspace and the Greater Ridgewood Youth Council, and adult classes at Tiny Art Space, all in Ridgewood, Queens. In 2019, she joined Brooklyn based gallery sk.ArtSpace as Gallery Assistant, and became a founding member of the SK Collective. Deloris has had artwork featured in numerous exhibitions, including artwork selected by SaveArtSpace and displayed on a billboard in Brooklyn, NY (2021); solo exhibition at Flecker Gallery in Long Island, NY (2023); Harlem Grown Sankofa public installation at Historic Marcus Garvey Park (2024); and has received an Honorable Mention award in the annual Best of SUNY juried exhibition (2024). She has participated in the residency program at Ma’s House of Southampton (2023), and has been accepted into the Chateau d’Orquevaux Artist In Residency Program (upcoming 2025). Deloris is currently an Artist In Residence with the SHIFT Residency (2024) powered by EFA Project Space.