Delita Martin

Delita Martin (born 1972) is an American multimedia artist based in Huffman, Texas. Black Women, Intimacy, and Freedom in the Atlantic World. Quotes My work, at its core, is about spiritual identity and how women, particularly women of color, become their spiritual other. It’s about exploring how we visualize ourselves in prayer, meditation, and as our spiritual other, which is who we are when we release worldly attachment. That’s the space I want to capture in my art to tell the story of the women in this gallery, You are constantly transitioning in and out of that space; we just don’t recognize it. I’m curious as to what that looks like. he challenge for me was how to visually describe this space. It became color, texture, and pattern. When you see the figure going in and out of the pattern and see it on the skin, it references the woman is transitioning into her spiritual space. I always want the work to come from my heart. I find I can’t do that when I plan.That’s as much planning as I do. I react to the piece because I feel I’m a conduit for the work itself. I wanted to talk about Cubism from a more contemporary standpoint. I refer to it as Afro-Cubism and brought it to a two-D structure. During those sessions, my grandmother would talk to me about my family and tell me all kinds of history. In a way, she was stitching together who I was and who I was going to become. It was a natural step to bring her into the work. It evens the playing field. Wherever you go in the gallery, there are eyes on you. I became curious about what it would look like to see my mother or sister or even myself in the ‘veilscape.’ It was totally different creating this body of work. I think, too, it deepened the relationship I had with those individuals. When you draw someone, it’s a very intimate process. You learn a lot about them. I was going through a time when I couldn’t see myself, where I was, or how I was existing. It was hard because the world had completely shut down. My compass was broken. I started doing self-portraits to heal and figure out where I was. I’ve always been drawn to blue. It’s the color that centers me. If I’m ever lost, I can follow that color back to find my way.. The women featured in my work are not necessarily high-powered in the world. But I stand on the shoulders of women like this, and their stories are important. I want viewers to understand that their stories are important, too. Delita Martin’s ‘Sometimes My Blues Change Color’, August 7 2024 External Links Category:Artists Category:1972 births Category:1970s