Myra Greene

Myra Greene is an American artist whose practice explores notions of race, identity, labour and history. Working across photography and textiles, Greene traces fragmented narratives, such as disconnected histories, estranged family connections, or separated Black bodies, and reconfigures them into new constellations. Her earlier photographic work utilises the 19th-century process of ambrotype: a technique which involves longer exposure and which is associated with slavery daguerreotypes. Evoking the complex conversation on colonialism and Black body, the artist depicts her own physical features, lips, nose, or skin, detached from the rest of herself. More recently, Greene creates large textile pieces composed of triangular-shaped, colourful pieces of fabric stitched together. To produce them, the artist silk-screens patterns inspired by Dutch prints over African fabrics; yet again creating a meeting point between distinct histories. Greene’s practice is incredibly rich in both the amount of historical intricacy it invites and its vibrancy of colour.