BARBARA ELLIS

Barbara Ellis, Rivers -- Mississippi, 2016, oil on canvas 30 x 40 inches 

Langston Hughes' poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers

I've known rivers: 
Ancient, dusky rivers. 

My soul has grown deep like the rivers. 

(Langston Hughes, excerpt The Negro speaks of Rivers) 

Documentary images from the history of slavery in America were used by Ellis to create the face of an elderly woman in a white head wrap. The woman is presented lost in contemplation against a grey sky that appears to mirror her thoughts. The deep blue pigment used to depict the figure’s face evokes the term “blue-black” Ellis often heard as a child used to describe a skin tone found among dark-skinned people of African descent. The expression and worn features of the woman “reflect a profound sense of desolation, loss, fatigue, and hopelessness.” 

Barbara Ellis in her studio at Clearwater Artist Studios in Concord, NC.

Ellis states:  “‘My soul has grown deep like the rivers moved me to conjure up feeling-tones associated with the slave experience. They are etched on her face, and emanate from her countenance. What was going on in her mind? My attempt was to give voice to the voiceless. It is my hope that this image will motivate the viewer to feel, or at the very least consider, the shattering emotional and physical effects of slavery upon the enslaved.” 

Exhaustion with institutional violence against people of color is a sentiment that has been amplified following the memorial service for George Floyd. Ellis is currently working on finishing paintings of faces in hoods she created after the death of Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012 who was known to always wear a hoodie. The acquittal of George Zimmerman had led to the "Million Hoodie March" against profiling used against non-white youths in hoodies. Ellis sees knowledge and empathy as instrumental for changing institutional racism.  

The importance of history for understanding and safeguarding the present and ensuring a strong future is evoked in another work by Ellis citing traditional West African Akan imagery. The stylized bird with its head turned backwards while its feet face forward is carrying a precious egg in its mouth: “Sankofa is often associated with the proverb, ‘It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.’" Looking back may be useful for negotiating the “depth and breadth” of upheaval she sees today.  The dedication of numerous young protestors makes her hopeful it will be possible to move society in the direction of change. 

Barbara Ellis, Sankofa 2, oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches