B. OCAL A , FL, 1989; LIVES IN BIRMINGHAM, AL
Although Jillian Marie Browning describes her work Matriarchal Line (2019) as a self-portrait, it is certainly an unconventional one. Rather than a representation of the artist’s physical appearance, the work consists of dozens of round cyanotype images on fabric, each bearing the imprint of a lock of her own hair, or that of her mother and sisters. Together the tondos form a chain of matrilineal succession. Matriarchal Line alludes to feminine domesticity and traditional “women’s work” through the use of cotton fabric and the wooden embroidery hoops which bind each image. The work also references the nineteenth-century cyanotype studies of plants by British photographer Anna Atkins, often referred to as the first female photographer.
“Utilizing self portraiture,” Browning has said, “my work often deals with the intersection of feminism and race, and how the two are constructed through the investigation of social, familial, and gender roles.” Browning has created other works that examine the cultural significance of hair and hairstyles in Black culture, the social pressures around self-fashioning and body images, and the notion of race and DNA analysis. She has even lectured on the representation of black hairstyles in superhero comics and other cultural contexts.
This installation is part of the exhibition Parallel Lives: Photography, Identity, and Belonging, curated by Maya Benton. Parallel Lives draws attention to complex notions of community and belonging, and in particular how our social and familial relationships have been reimagined as a result of the conditions of isolation and uncertainty imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Photo: Jillian Maria Browning, Matriarchal Line, 2018