Art Militant: Seeing The Black Woman Through Arielle Gray’s Subjects

It's with no doubt that throughout America’s history, one thing you will never be able to avoid is the existence of the Black Woman. Although operating within an inequitable system, the Black Woman has taken on many identities (sometimes out of force and other times out of necessity) within the carriage and evolution of America. In a 2023 conversation with educator, writer and artist Alayna Purnell for Lenscratch, Arielle gives us insight on how the values of womanhood inform her work, “There is an overarching presence of matrilineal transference, there are glimpses into the velvety, interior lives of Black women and slivers of what could be considered spiritual awakenings caught in a single frame—baptisms in communion or solitude. An exploration of real and fantastic take place. I am interested in the ancestral ties that bind us and the ritual of dressing up or getting ready.”

What drew me to Arielle as a fellow educator and artist, is that Arielle wears her identity proudly. She embodies every single energy that comes with being a Black Woman from her style of fashion to what some of us Southerns would call her “sweet softness” in speech to the dialect and, obviously, her location of reference–the American South. Gray’s work tells the story of emotion, isolation and the mere existence of a Black Woman through portraiture photography with no interest in creating a monolithic meaning behind herself and subjects. She truly wants to be.

Through her practice, passion and a long for immortalizing the women who paved the way for her, the talented image maker and writer has used her inspiration to create a beautiful career for herself on the East Coast and Deep South. Along with exhibiting her works throughout New York and an exhibition in Los Angeles, Arielle’s images and journalism have been published by marquee institutions such as Vogue, New York Times, Aperture, ProPublica and The New Yorker to name a few. She’s also received various awards and honors including Aperture x Google Labs Creator Fund, the Innovate Grant and has served as guest writer for the Guggenheim Academic Engagement Group in 2022.

The Yale MFA graduate is inspired by the women who raised her, a twin sister who accompanied her in her upbringing and the women she read about during her childhood summers in the countryside of Tuscaloosa, Alabama surrounded by family and nature. She recalls her younger days as a transformative time for her since there was such a separation between her home and the neighboring towns where you could find glimpses of city living, or even subdivisions. In her solitude, she was given much time and space to imagine a future in visual media with assistance from the QVC purchased Fuji camera her mom used to take family photos, something she has become pretty fond of doing herself.

In “Jada At Home In Birmingham”, an image currently on display at the all woman group exhibition, with curators Cornelia Stokes and Ra’Twone Fields at Southside Contemporary Art Gallery, the subject is centered in a rural front yard, the scene just an hour outside of her maternal home of Moundville, Alabama, under an aged tree, positioned in a lawn chair in her essence. She strikes as confident and bold with a refined, sophisticated posture. The image is part of a set of photos captured in 2022, it pairs with another portrait of Jada (“Jada’s Ennui”) where viewers are now taken inside the home and in the same ensemble, the subject is seated in front of vintage china displaying elders, or ancestors, within her own heritage. This time, the subject is reclined, more aloof in expression, seemingly dissatisfied or simply bored. Jada exemplifies the dual positioning of Black Women in the home and society.

With the responsibility of raising generations of their own, and their oppressors, the Southern Black Woman is directly responsible for the advancement of a country that often demands a tranquil presence from such a foundational factor. Historically, deserving a much softer landing, the women in her photography depict a reality unseen. Though, recognition has always been traditionally justified in matriarchal Black American homes through these unsung storytellers, as many families pass down objects, jewelry, songs, textiles to keep their stories of community alive.

Arielle Gray continues to focus on identity and experience through images and oration in the South where she’s settled after her fellowship and is currently seeking representation in the artworld. She recently released “Between Myself and The Camera”, an in-depth feature and introspective look at her life as a growing photographer and human in March’s issue of Pamplemousse Magazine. Arielle’s work in Extinguish at the Southside Contemporary Art Gallery in Richmond, VA is on view until April 26, 2025.