Ry Watkins:
Ry Watkins
Studio Art major
I was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, within the same square 50 miles as the 4 (recorded) generations before me. From drawing on church programs and collaging old newspaper clippings, I've always been led to make my mark on the materials around me. I found New England extremely jarring and wholly different from my experience living in Tennessee; the environment made me feel small and insignificant in the face of so many people who had experienced so much, and yet knew nothing about the places or people from which I came. This sparked the multidisciplinary exploration of collective cultural history in my work.
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I Loves U The Mostest
mixed media, artist book and installation
Jewett Art Gallery and PNW 203
This project began with my creation of an artist's book of the same name and was informed by my lived experience as a Black Southerner; it is a visual, experiential representation of the culture of Black people from the South. By aggrandizing my memories of Black Southern life through a hyper-realistic and niche lens, I am creating a snapshot of home that serves to proverbially sedate any homesickness or longing for the simple pleasures of growing up a little Black kid in the South. In some ways, I feel like the work I produce has been a means of rebelling against American historical precedents and their modern reverberations. However, researching, planning, and physically articulating my vision for my work has shown me an alternative mode of thinking that de-centers the white supremacist hegemony and focuses on the love I have for my people. In her book of essays, Art On My Mind, bell hooks remarks, "There can be a sacred place in everyone's life where beauty can be laid bare, where our spirits can be moved and lifted up by the creation and presence of a beautiful object." I Loves U The Mostest has represented that sacred place for me.
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