Reclaiming the Crown

Joanne Petit-Frere is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

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With her braiding kit, suede cowboy hat and black leather jacket all worn from a life worth living, a tender heart went west. The concept of manifest destiny has been a proponent for movement that this country has founded its expansion on. The idea of growing bigger, wider and more expansive resides in the hearts minds and spirits of us all. It's the American Dream. Yet growing up in poverty, be it mental or economic poverty can limit one's ability to dream beyond their metaphoric four walls and in the case of some New Yorkers beyond their borough.

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Joanne Petit Frere is the kind of artist that pushes this concept beyond its boundaries and flips it on its proverbial head. And in these daunting political times that we are experiencing, it is the artist and their commentaries that will truly shape the way this generation is archived. Through writing, moving imagery and her innovative take on hair sculptures, Joanne is curating experiences that trigger memory, culture and the spirit of the diaspora. It is through her own exploration of self that catapulted her from the gritty unforgiving streets of New York to the quiet ephemeral solitude of Oregon where she formulated a personal and artistic landscape that has shaped her monumental new work. Jo Goes West is an archival narrative that is both personal and universal. This work in its raw authenticity discusses not only the artist as storyteller but how mental health, family dysfunction and a need to escape and find ones self are both tremendously beautiful and tragically isolating.

Photography by Alex Riedlinger

Words by Trae Harris;
Performance Artist & Writer

Portraits & Sculptures courtesy of Artist

More from her work below, Support her mission to deliver an Art Catalogue & Showcase

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