Luxuriously feminine: black skin, white pearls, satin, and polished nails. Karice Mitchell is a photo-based installation artist who uses found images from vintage Black erotica to further empower herself alongside Black femmes and lessen the omnipresence of white supremacy. Blending several visual methods such as cropping, reshooting, scanning, and distorting analogue and digital images, Mitchell leans into the possibilities of glitches – technology’s failure to fulfill its intended function – to highlight alternative ways of being. Mitchell pushes the boundaries of the photographic medium by exploring the interplay between visibility as a celebration and obscurity as a protective “iykyk” politic.
Originally commissioned as Capture Photography Festival’s 2024 signature public art project, Mitchell’s proposed image becoming and unbecoming (working title) was denied by the intended partner without the possibility of resubmission. The Polygon Gallery proudly presents this work in its public-facing window. Furthermore, the artist has reconceptualised the contested image to create a larger body of work for presentation on four billboards across Vancouver, in collaboration with Capture.
Appropriating platforms normally used for advertising, the series Will to adorn complicates the language of capitalism. Mitchell reaffirms that adornment on the Black body is neither frivolous nor tasteless, but is power and presence. In this suite of photographs, she poses as both author and subject. At this monumental scale, we witness and hold in reverence the self-care, individual expression, culture, and joy inspired and embraced by Black femmes.
Karice Mitchell in conversation with curator Chelsea Yuill on Thursday, April 11
For locations of the works in Will to adorn, visit capturephotofest.com.
Curated by Chelsea Yuill, Capture Photography Festival
Presented in partnership with Capture Photography Festival
