Chapter 8: Paper Thin Boundaries

In my photographic series, Paper Thin Boundaries, I explore identity and place within the context of one’s relationship with the self in the physical, social, and psychological geographies of the city and nature. The work features representations of urban graffiti and the Black female body, specifically self-portrait images, set in a sublime landscape. The title of the body of work refers to personal boundaries—the psychological space that we use to separate ourselves from one another. Here, boundaries also refer to borders, and the way we may perceive someone from another country or culture. I began this work while on an artist residency in Austria, years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. During this residency, I lived in a small town in Lower Austria for two and a half months where there were very few people of color. As an African American woman artist, my difference was quite pronounced in that environment. This series of artworks reflects my gradual response to looking out at the other and being seen as other in Europe in the early 2010s.