Joanne Petit-Frère addresses the human body as a site of beauty and adornment. Drawing on various African Diaspora traditions, the photographs of Cindy Sherman, Haitian history, and a range of other sources, Petit-Frère makes films, drawings, and labor-intensive tapestries and sculptures that involve weaving by hand financially-sustainable, synthetic hair. Many of Petit-Frère’s wall-works and sculptures are activated by performance. She enlists performance as a means by which to think about the body. At a moment in which human touch and presence in society is increasingly charged, Petit-Frère's artwork reveals human beauty and form, the power of identity, and the shifting currents of social dialogue.
“I would like to see how Drawings incited thru Literary highlights , correlate with one another ; how these Drawings Communicate in expression of Curated , Literary Selections. These Drawings would be Transformed into Braided , Textile Interpretations . I see these Textile works photographed by Archivists based in New York — of African Diaspora descent.
These Drawings and Quotes may act as Coping Mechanisms & Healing agents — between Ourselves and for Others during #Covid-19. However, they focus on the Storytelling and Archival pursuits of the Black Displaced Body. Their Language — aiming to provide Catharsis .”