Deborah Roberts is an Austin-based artist. Her famous artworks are mixed media art that challenge the perception of ideal beauty. The figures of her works are young Black girls and increasingly Black boys. For Roberts, their well-being and futures are always threatened. These girls and boys are subjected to social pressures and projected images while they’re still in their formation of identity.
Deborah Roberts, The duty of disobedience, 2020. Mixed media collage on canvas. 72 x 100 inches. Artwork © Deborah Roberts. Courtesy the artist; Vielmetter Los Angeles; and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Image courtesy The Contemporary Austin. Photograph by Paul Bardagjy. https://thecontemporaryaustin.org/exhibitions/deborah-roberts/
The duty of disobedience, 2020 is one of Roberts mixed media arts. It depicts the collage of black children wearing colorful clothes. One of them is gesturing peace sign on his finger. All of these figures express courage. It seems they pose a question to society: why?! Through her work, Roberts wants to challenge the norm of ‘beauty, body, race, and identity in contemporary society’.
Deborah Roberts, Jamal, 2020. Mixed media collage on canvas. 65 x 45 inches. Artwork © Deborah Roberts. Courtesy the artist; Vielmetter Los Angeles; and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Image courtesy The Contemporary Austin. Photograph by Paul Bardagjy. https://thecontemporaryaustin.org/exhibitions/deborah-roberts/
Another work is Jamal, 2020 that portrays a young Black boy sitting and wearing a casual outfit. He shows rap hand gestures. His eyes are starring sharply. This image wants to speak about freedom and resistance against any oppression in society.
Roberts created a paper collage from the internet found images and completed them with hand-painted details. Most of her figures look like they have parts that do not match their body sizes, such as oversized hands or faces. Her figures also simultaneously represent playful, powerful, and vulnerable characters. Roberts focuses on highlighting Black children because up to now they are still among the most vulnerable members of our population. They become targets of racism, violence, societal pressures, and projected images of beauty or masculinity.
Roberts was also inspired by her awareness of otherness that grew since the beginning of her artistic career. Previously, her ideals of race and beauty were shaped by the renaissance arts and fashion magazine photographs. However, then she started to question how our identity is imagined and shaped by social construction. This inquiry led her to critically engage in image-making to voice marginalized identity.
Deborah Robert’s exhibition entitled I’m is on view at The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center on Congress Avenue, through August 15, 2021. Further information about this exhibition can be read on https://thecontemporaryaustin.org/exhibitions/deborah-roberts/
Deborah Roberts
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