irene antonia diane reece

Billie-James

c. 2016 - forever growing.

Billie-James is a growing photographic series displaying the artist’s experience being Black in the world she grew up in versus her father’s childhood. The work was to show the recurring patterns of events and memories that nothing has changed regarding the violence towards Black lives but also shining through that Black folks are thriving continuously. The play on using her family archives is a story-telling of rituals and traditions of Black southern values that have been passed down within her family. The gestures of Black love, family, tenderness, and embrace. This work began diving into what can–the memory/rememory, the archives, and stories do to us. Over the years this work has blossomed into more than what we already know about the everyday navigation that our souls go through in this world. That Blackness is not linear but fluid, that Blackness is joy, a healer, a leader, a voice, and most importantly home. 

“I imagine years from now, whenever I am physically unable to hold a camera or make art with my hands, I will go back to these bodies of work, much like my family albums, to find resolutions for my everyday life and continue to heal.” 

- Irene Antonia Diane Reece (You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and The Black Experience, Anthology)