By the Grace of God
In her series of watercolor paintings titled By the Grace of God, Debra Edgerton reconsiders the public expression of grief and loss for women of color. In today’s society, our view of women of color and the tragedy of their lives often comes through news stories reporting on the aftermath of racial and police violence towards people of color. Often seen in the backdrop of decayed urban environments, the women speaking on their loss of a family member or other loved-one are objectified and marginalized. The media serves as a lens for our perspective on, and definition of, social groups. The traumatized speaker is objectified and plays a role that members of outside communities easily identify as “other,” further polarizing the disparate communities.
The series, By the Grace of God, had its origin in Venice, Italy, in 2014 when Edgerton was visiting a local cemetery. As she walked, she was struck by the depiction of grief through monuments featuring women and angels mourning the loss of men. The sculptures expressed qualities of inner-peace and strength, giving power and beauty to the perception of death and remembrance. Leaving the cemetery, Edgerton considered what she had witnessed: the monuments memorialized men, not women, and none of the sculptures depicted women of color. She reflected on her experience while contemplating how she might reframe how we view grief and loss by those who do not look like us?
In our current social/political climate we can see how the depiction of women of color in the media, and our contextual view of them, influences acceptance and empathy by social groups unaffected by such tragedies. The paintings in the By the Grace of God series seek to reclaim and redefine representations of women of color in emotionally and spiritually reflective states. In sharp contrast with the typical depiction of women of color responding to grief and loss in the media, Edgerton’s figures are heavenly, angelic, and self-realized. Through her synthesis and re-contextualizing of Western European depictions of women in mourning, she transforms the original imagery into multi-ethnic, inclusive, expressions of grief and loss.
