Alexis Childress (born IL; lives Atlanta, GA) is inspired by Afrofuturism. Her work uses technology to examine race, culture and autobiography. She received a BFA from Georgia State University, Atlanta. Her work has been shown at the Atlanta Photography Group Gallery, Camayuhs Gallery, Dalton Gallery, Day and Night Projects and MINT Gallery, all Atlanta, as well as Rhode Island Center of Photographic Arts, Providence. Her work has been published in Burnaway Magazine, Library Zine!, Voices from Across The New York Public Library and Under the Bridge. She has received a Red Bull Arts microgrant and a Visual Artists Grant from the Judith Alexander Foundation.
Statement from the Artist:
Deriving inspiration from Afrofuturism, I create surreal, digitally created compositions that use technology to explore the meanings of race, culture, and autobiography. In the series “No Victim’s Song,” I accentuate and celebrate the matriarchal perspective of legacy, and more specifically the Black matriarchal legacy, to create a retro yet futuristic experience of black female empowerment. I construct a world that is unbound by time and released from stereotypical labels. Using photographs of my body combined with found imagery and analog paint marks, I allow my body to become fluid in shape and time, taking on many different manifestations in the same way that it took many different lives to perpetuate my existence. The result is a retro-futuristic celebration of Black beauty, female legacy and the journeys of the women that manifested my existence, as well as an homage to the body passed to me through generations. I am reclaiming Black femininity while redefining fierce strength.