hello!
"Unearthing hidden truths, public secrets, untold stories that affect the African diaspora."
Joni P. Gordon (she/her) is a multidisciplinary activist based in St. Louis, Missouri, whose practice spans sound, sculpture, photography, and language. She was born in Jamaica and received her BFA from Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. She graduated with her MFA from Washington University in St Louis. She is passionate, dynamic, and continually seeks opportunities to expand her artistic skills and make a meaningful impact.
Joni's work dismantles and interrogates established narratives of the African diaspora. She uncovers hidden histories, unspoken truths, and public secrets. Through this process, she challenges colonial frameworks of Black history.
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A recipient of the Catapult Award, Joni participated in the Lockdown Virtual Salon, engaging in critical conversations with fellow Caribbean artists during the rise of COVID-19. In 2021, she was among 100 artists honored with the Prince Claus Seed Award by the Prince Claus Fund. That same year, she was selected as the Summer Resident at New Local Space in Jamaica, culminating in her solo exhibition, Textured Lines. Joni continues to push boundaries, using art as a tool for dialogue, resistance, implication, and transformation.
artist statement
"My work is artivism (art activism). I give voice to those often unheard"
Art is revolutionary. It gives voice to those often unheard, reveals the repetition of history, and provides an avenue for communal healing.
My work is artivism (art activism). I give voice to those often unheard, unearthing hidden truths, public secrets, and untold stories that affect the African diaspora. I implicate the viewer. My art practice confronts the audience as a witness, victim, perpetrator, or even a victor, potentially helping to challenge one’s perspectives and assumptions. My process of publicly healing through art blossomed into communal healing, as the audience can uniquely relate to my experiences.
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 papier mache forms. Government documents, broom and brush bristles, mop fiber, towels, and sounds through oral histories convey those memories.
Being in the US and having experienced racism, my eyes were opened to colorism in my home country, 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, sound, and sculpture. These hybrid art objects and installations were configured as central installations intended to implicate and confront the audience, prompting introspection.
contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.
