On View

Amanda Russhell Wallace

Mo(u)rning Tea, Extracted + Here There

Amanda Russhell Wallace presents two media pieces, both exploring different but interconnected aspects of identity.

Amanda Russhell Wallace. Mo(u)rning Tea, Extracted, 2011. Digital still.

Mo(u)rning Tea, Extracted is a single-channel video that has been adapted for viewing on e4c’s screens. The viewer sees the artist performing as host of a tea in response to various conversations surrounding black African hair texture, hair politics and rituals. The weaving of different sets symbolizes a meshing of the past, present, and future.

Here There is a multi-channel piece—its inaugural showing at e4c. Originally written text and scenery—some naturally occurring, others augmented—from the natural world coexist as a meditative exploration of identity, perception, spirituality, religion and cognition.


About the Artist

Amanda Russhell Wallace is a multi-media artist who considers how identity and acceptance are based on remnants of speech, texts, and imagery carried throughout time. She examines them to represent associations and typologies we use to form, assign (to ourselves and others), and perform identity daily.

Her representations follow two primary routes. One focuses on the limited, yet continuously perpetuated stereotyping and its related implications of African American identity formation and negation, while the other is rooted in direct personal experiences. Within both, there is a romanticized, solution-seeking desire for simpler, less judgmental human interactions mediated via art.