Alexis Rivierre (b. 1991, St. Louis, MO) is an interdisciplinary artist who creates visual narratives; her practice functions within the expanded field of painting utilizing a range of media from photography to textiles, and performance. In addition to her artist practice Rivierre partners with arts organizations, museums, and universities to develop educational resources and facilitate art workshops and lectures. Rivierre earned her MFA in Studio art with an emphasis in painting at Wichita State University in 2018 and a BFA in Art/Painting, with a minor in Art History from Missouri State University in 2014. Rivierre has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Wayfarers Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), The Ulrich Museum of Art (Wichita, KS), The Kansas Museum (Wichita, KS), and Center [3] Artistic + Social Practice in Ontario, Canada. She currently lives and operates her studio practice in New York City.
Statement:
Images constructed in film and the broader media possess a social and political power that is used to build the collective identities of how we perceive ourselves in relationship to those positioned as "the other”. Through a multidisciplinary, fractured, process I create visual narratives that investigate the ways in which the representation of race through language and visual media plays a role in how we are socialized in the United States. My work casts a critical lens on the performative nature of Black womanhood as it relates to our historical placement specifically within the American tale. Rooted in my personal narrative I look to representations in film and media to derive sources of inquiry around stereotypes (ie. Jezebel, Angry Black Woman, etc.), the black body as a perceived threat and managing self-care/ anxiety, to name a few concepts. Utilizing my clothing and personal objects I create masks embellished with materials like broken mirrors, glass, beads, paint, embroidery, nails, etc., and then engage with an unassuming public through impromptu performative gestures. These characters/ personae are documented in self-portraiture, iPhone selfies, and videos. They are then paired with cultivated language and appropriated imagery from internet-sourced media to create counter-narratives that reconstruct the collective identity while furthering critical discourse, cultivating power and purpose through the reimagined/reclaimed.