‘We are in a cycle of violence against Black bodies by the police,” says Deborah Roberts, a Texan born and bred. “As an artist, I have to speak up about it – and create images that speak to this violence.” Roberts is talking to me in the aftermath of the death of Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old father who died three days after being beaten by police officers in Memphis. Last week he was buried, surrounded by family, friends and cultural leaders.
Based in Austin, Roberts creates powerful collages of mostly Black adolescents. Splicing elements from varying sources – Michelle Obama’s hands, the eyes of James Baldwin – she uses heavily textured collages to explore “the multiplicity” of Blackness. “Do not think of people of colour as this monolithic idea,” she says, “but as individuals.”
