Grace Donaldson

“I want to illustrate the issue of the lack of progress in racial equality through my pieces.  I used found imagery of police brutality from both the Civil Rights movement and the Black Lives Matter movement, and it is very hard to distinguish which is which.  This highlights the gross misconception that as a society we have changed, and the fight for racial equality is over. I want my art to have social relevance. At the time that I was homing in on my subject matter, the Black Lives Matter movement was at its peak, and I was being bombarded with images of the conflict.  I began to notice the power of an image and how important it is to make art with meaning.  Even if that means I have to explore uncomfortable ideas and gruesome history.  

My favourite artist models are Cecily Brown, Robert Rauschenberg, and Mark Bradford.  I used many of these artists' painting techniques when experimenting with my work.  I found that all of them have a style of chaos and over saturation of paint on the paper which is something I really wanted to explore.  This would help me portray the overwhelming feeling of receiving a constant roll of shocking images on a daily basis. 

My art is a way for me to educate myself and others on extremely important societal issues.”