This painting is by Taylor Jackson, who graduated from Rhodes College in 2015. Her artist statement reads: "I rummage through a treasure trove of memories and personal observations to create imagery that is critical of the heavily ingrained politics of skin color, beauty, and womanhood. My work questions the validity of dangerous 'beautifying' rituals such as skin lightening. The work has a crude and visceral appearance. The progression of time is a major component of my work, as it shows the devastating consequences of continued reliance on these rituals. I want to demonstrate stages of the destruction of natural beauty."
Taylor Jackson standing with her work in her Senior Thesis Exhibition in Clough-Hanson Gallery.