Joni P. Gordon - Contemporary Artivist
Joni P. Gordon (BFA Photography, 2019) was born in Manchester, Jamaica, and is currently based in St Louis, Missouri. She uses sculpture, photography and sound to unearth hidden truths, public secrets, untold truths that affect the African diaspora. Her work has been exhibited in various group exhibitions. Joni is a Catapult awardee where she, amongst other Caribbean artists, did an artist talk via Lockdown Virtual Salon on social media during the rise of COVID-19.
Joni was among one hundred (100) awardees of the Prince Claus Seed Award by the Prince Claus Fund in 2021. She interned at New Local Space (NLS) in 2019 and in February 2021 completed her first residency, La Práctica, also at NLS. Joni was the 2021 Summer Resident at NLS and has produced a solo exhibition, Textured Lines from that residency. She is currently pursuing her Masters degree in Visual Arts Washington University in St. Louis.
Artist Statement
Art can be revolutionary. It gives voice to those often unheard and reveals the repetition of history. The viewer becomes a witness, victim, or perpetrator, potentially helping to challenge one’s perspectives and assumptions.
As a Jamaican immigrant employed through the U.S. State Department’s Summer Work and Travel Program, I was the subject of racial discrimination. That horrific experience introduced my exploration of the cathartic nature of art, which helps me heal from the trauma of racial discrimination.
Expanding beyond the camera frame, I express trauma physically, using photography and sculptural forms. Using my body in photography, I translate those memories against sculptural backdrops, creating life-sized abstract paper mache forms. Work and Travel documents, broom and brush bristle, mop fiber, towels, and sound through oral histories convey those memories.
Being in the US and having experienced racism, my eyes were opened to colorism in Jamaica — a country with predominantly black people. My work raises critical questions about the intersectionality of colorism and racism, Black history, gender, beauty, and privilege. Materials such as cardboard rectangles with handwritten words, doors defaced by scratches, fire, printed newspaper, and projected photographs are used to ask and answer those questions.
The black body, oral histories, and research are the raw materials that help shape my practice. I am producing installations that are confluences of collage, photography, projection, didacticism, and sculptures. These hybrid art objects/installations were configured into central installations intended to implicate and confront the audience for introspection.
My work is artivism (art activism). I give voice to those often unheard. My process of publicly healing through art blossomed into communal healing, as other victims of racial discrimination can relate to my experience.
Contact Me
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