Billie James

EDITION

2019, Winner

school

Paris College of Art (PCA)
Paris, France

links

irenereece.com ↗

Billie-James, is a photographic series displaying the artist’s experience being an African American. Reece, born and raised in the South of the United States, with a father that was brought up during the Civil Rights Movement has created a linkage from her family upbringing.The reasoning behind the display of family archivals/text/contemporary archivals was to create a parallel between the artist’s father’s life and her own. While one is a black boy growing up in American during the 1950s vs. a biracial, half Black half Mexican girl in the 1990s, it permeates that nothing has changed, regarding discrimination and racism. This including “nothing has changed” regarding feeling liberated and proud to be a black individual. The black imagery has become her main focus in her recent work, Reece is wanting to eliminate the sole narrative and negative perception of the black individual. Her family lineage has been displayed by incorporating family portraits, racial conflicts, and acknowledging the beauty of her BLACKNESS to give different spectrums of the black image.