Madison cooper
I define my work as an exploratory conversation addressing memory, Blackness, and childhood. I primarily work in photography and printmaking, and frequently incorporate textile elements and practices. I choose these elements to emphasize specific familiar and cultural symbology. Processing these signifiers—such as church services and hair care products— serve as an effort to comb through memories and consider the way I perceive my Black identity. Within my practice, I’m constantly looking for the connection point between physical materiality and visual re-staging and examining what it means to repurpose and alter memories. I integrate personal and public archival imagery and staging in reminiscence of specific moments of my past, as a Black woman from Dallas, Texas. I tend to highlight experiences rooted in personal trauma while striving to soothe these moments of unrest and confusion. I search out variable communal experiences to amplify the intricacies of Black culture. I’m interested in my work existing as a performance for the Black community.