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Galerie Myrtis
Lavett Ballard: Reimagining Contemporary Collage
Lavett Ballard: Reimagining Contemporary Collage
Lavett Ballard
Lavett Ballard envisions her art as a reimagined visual narrative centered around individuals of African descent. Her creative expression delves into profound social issues, particularly focusing on the historical context of Black women’s experiences.
In her current body of work, she combines collaged photographs with paint, oil pastels, and metallic foils. These images undergo intricate deconstruction and layering before adorning surfaces like paper or reclaimed aged wood fences. The fusion of varied materials and imagery in her artwork is a poignant exploration of her Southern roots, conveying enduring themes within her community in a visually striking manner.
Image Credit:
"Show me the way" by Lavett Ballard
Ballard’s visual practice involves layering images, mostly of ordinary African Americans, to create visual connections from past to present. The artist’s use of picket fences is powerfully symbolic of an idyllic life, and also of exclusion, and the idea that on the other side of that fence lies inclusion and safety. It is a call to viewers to broaden their ideas of who is worthy of protection and safety and whose stories get told.
Victor Williams for Time Magazine
View of Lavett Ballard's cutting table in studio
"Sweetness" by Lavett Ballard
View of Lavett Ballard's cutting table in studio
Lavett Ballard (b. 1970, East Orange, NJ) holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in Studio Art and Art History with a minor in Museum Studies from Rutgers University and earned an MFA in Studio Arts from the University of the Arts, Philadelphia. Ballard is an adjunct professor at Rowan College of South Jersey.
In 2020, to mark the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, Time Magazine commissioned Ballard to create artwork as one of its regional covers for the "100 Women of the Year", 2020 edition. Ballard's subject was civil rights activist Rosa Parks (1913-2005), whose peaceful and history-making acts of resistance in 1955 initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. "The Bus Riders," a portrait honoring Parks, graced the March 16, 2020, double issue.
In early 2023, Ballard was approached again by Time Magazine to create a visual narrative accompanying an editorial by Isabel Wilkerson, author of "Caste: the Origins of Our Discontents." In response, Ballard created mixed media collages depicting people who stood up to powerful forces against caste-based oppression. "Caste and Chaos," a composition with acts of resistance and subjugation, was selected to grace the February 3, 2023, "Division and Destiny" Issue. The same issue also published a cover story on Ballard's artistic process entitled "The Story Behind' Division & Destiny' Cover" by Victor Williams.
