At first glance, the paintings of artist Daryl Royster Alexander, one of the featured artists in the current exhibit at the Granary Gallery, are striking, with their bold imagery and strong, saturated colors. However, on closer inspection there is much to be gleaned from the historical allegory in her most recent work.
The series of portraits is of African American women in elaborate costumes, each holding symbolic objects and set against arched backdrops. Looking closely, their full skirt patterns are drawings of historic diagrams of people, head to toe, cargo in a slave ship’s hold, as rendered by an 18th century abolitionist.
“I took the diagrams and incorporated them into what I perceived as Africa as a woman,” says Alexander.
The oblong, ship-shaped diagram is shown in the artist’s work as either a single panel or as a series of embellishments in the voluminous skirts. It has a decorative quality to it which belies the true intention of the image. The pattern/slave-cargo adornment spawn deeper reflection.
In each case the subject’s garb is painted to resemble that of European women of the privileged classes from the 1600s, the era that is considered to be the significant starting point of the slave trade to America.
In each image the female subject is holding a globe with the continent of Africa facing forward. In one, titled “Africa, Fire of Creation and the Known World,” the woman is holding a globe in one hand and a vessel on fire. “Science says that the first humans arose on the continent of Africa,” says Alexander. “Everyone’s origins can be traced to Africa.”
In another, titled “Africa Contemplating Her Unexpected Gifts,” the central figure wears a large hat in profile facing the globe in her left hand. “No one could predict what I call the unintended gifts of Africa: Her children helped build a nation, including the White House, and birthed movements from abolition to unionism to human rights. Music, sports, entertainment, and, oh yes, the arts are the beneficiaries of Africa and her many children. Our world is made richer for all that,” writes Alexander.
Last year Alexander constructed a number of mixed-media pieces for a series titled “Offerings to the Mother God.” The small sculptural pieces feature antique Black baby doll heads sitting atop elaborate costumes made up variously from African beads, shells, and semiprecious stones. In her artist’s statement, Alexander writes, “The doll-head totems are objets d’art offered to Yemenja, a water deity from the Yoruba religion. Some are assembled from precious and semiprecious gemstones; another from North African copal amber, trading beads, and glass, and one from vintage buttons and seashells. All are constructed on twice-fired clay. Each is signed and numbered inside the base.”
This series, explains Royster, was inspired by the work of sculptor Nick Cave, whose recent exhibit she visited with her great-niece in 2021. “I wanted to show her how you can find inspiration anywhere, and use it to express your own vision,” she says.
Alexander splits her time between an apartment in Brooklyn and her home in Oak Bluffs, where she has a studio and does most of her work. “I think I have to be out here for my work,” she says. “It’s very soothing. It’s a beautiful Island.” Alexander first showed her work on the Vineyard at the Knowhere Gallery in Oak Bluffs. “[Gallery owner] Val Francis was invaluable in introducing my work to the Island,” says Alexander. This is the artist’s second year showing at the Granary Gallery.
All of Alexander’s work springs from history, and her own experiences as an African American woman.
“I am basically someone who has dealt with the Black image in my art,” she says. On her website Alexander writes, “Art sets so many tasks, and a primal one is to be heard, to challenge and engage. I take that fight and color to my work.”
The Granary Gallery’s current group show also features two other artists. Vineyarder Heather Neill and Tamalin Baumgarten, who, as well as being a painter, is the founder and director of the Cuttyhunk Island Artists’ Residency.
The show will hang through August 28. The Granary Gallery is located at 636 Old County Road, and is open from 10 am to 5 pm, Monday through Saturday, and 11 am to 4 pm on Sunday. For more information, visit bit.ly/GG_DRAlexander.
