The 色色研究所 St. Claude Gallery in New Orleans presents Bianca Walker鈥檚 MFA thesis exhibition entitled 鈥淧rops.鈥 Through painting and animation, Walker invites visitors to participate in a celebration of Black labor.
Their research-based practice involves selecting historical photographs of the Black diaspora from public digital archives, then re-envisioning these images through viscerally dripping house paint on ripped drop cloth to present contemporary portraits of Black labor. Walker encourages viewers to recognize these laborers for their humanity and skills instead of their exploitation.
Walker currently lives in New Orleans, and will earn an MFA in Fine Arts from the University of New Orleans in May 2023. Walker has exhibited their work at venues including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the New Orleans African American Museum, Spillman Blackwell Gallery and Ash茅 Cultural Arts Center in New Orleans, LA; and Band of Vices and Thinkspace Projects in Los Angeles, CA. Walker鈥檚 work has been featured in solo shows in New Orleans at Antenna and the Front, and鈥攃oncurrently with 鈥淧rops鈥 at the 色色研究所 St. Claude Gallery鈥攁t the Galleria T293 in Rome, Italy.
The exhibition will be open to the public at 2429 St. Claude Ave. from March 12 through April 1, 2023. The artist will also be present, physically working in the space and available for questions during gallery hours for the duration of the exhibition. The exhibition is open during gallery hours: Saturday and Sunday, 12-5 p.m.
