My man can eat eeh; go put dis in the gahbage, 2021

Hole up yuh foot!, 2021

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Krystle Lemonias

University of Southern Florida

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Oftentimes, the work that I create is grounded in the principles of painting, sculpture, and drawing that features diverse representations of Black immigrant women. Through art, I hope to present women of the African diaspora as multifaceted individuals with agency. My art intends to depict the complications of what can be gained and lost in resilience as well as show how both documented and undocumented individuals serve as essential participants in America’s workforce. 

My artwork tells the stories of women’s labor that often goes unseen and untold. My practice establishes formal and intuitive processes that use interdisciplinary techniques to stitch together intersecting themes with personal narratives. I’m often inspired by my mother and my socialization to do these jobs in relation to its social complexity regarding class, gender, citizenship, commodification, economic inequity, and labor rights. 

I reappropriate and manipulate materials in my work with the intention to destabilize their power and play with the contradiction of mammy stereotypes. My materials include used baby and adult clothes, bedsheets, and diapers. In using these items, the piece acts as a representational resistance to the power structure that is inherent to workers like my mother. These items guide my conversations with various women who are employed in this type of labor.