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“Imagine being both Black and “Essential” in today’s current cultural/pandemic climate. Well, I don’t have to and what I’m left with is an unexplainable sense of emptiness. A feeling that my life is practically disposable as both a nurse and a woman of color. I’m just another RN reporting for duty. Just another brown face in a protesting crowd. I am a member of both an expendable and undervalued demographic let the media tell it. What’s a woman of color to do about it but paint? 👩🏽🩺” -GW Harper
I met GW Harper’s artwork during a two-fold crisis – coming to terms with both working as a nurse during COVID19 and mourning the lynchings of Black Americans. She paints her power, strength, tenacity, and pain, a reflection of a Black woman on the frontline of America. – Victorine
Artist Bio
African-American artist GW Harper was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1980. Throughout her life, GW Harper has always been a creative and felt drawn to the art realm. Initially, GW Harper’s creations were a method of stress relief that evolved into something much larger. Her interest in art was cultivated during her adolescent years and further developed when she opted to take several art classes during her later high school years.
After completing her nursing degree, GW Harper briefly shifted from her creative background to focus on her nursing career. She soon returned to her true love, specializing in acrylic/watercolor based abstract and mixed media creations. The abstract images GW Harper paints could easily be left up to one’s interpretation. Her Mixed Media pieces often draw parallels between current political topics and contains a slew of hidden messages and double entendres woven within the blankets of color. GW Harper cherishes when onlookers derive their own meaning from her pieces based on their own life experiences, and she is happiest when she is able to inspire others to follow their dreams.
I know you don’t need a reminder but……..just as a reminder #blacklivesmatter
GW Harper lives and works in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, surrounded by her art, husband, and two young daughters. She is a former Goat Farm studio member, and her artwork is represented by both Kuali Studio Gallery and Chatt Hills Gallery in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia.
Artist Statement
GW Harper
As a woman of color, it is important to me that my work always illustrates other people of color being uplifted even in their most daunting of hours. I am a creative; therefore, my subject matter may vary; however, the expressiveness of bold color always remains the same. I am always striving to push the envelope. How might I hide pieces of myself within the painted layers while simultaneously connecting with the outside world? My ultimate goal is to invoke emotion that not only transcends age, race, or gender but connects with the human experience at the most basic level.
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