Artist Statement

Within my mind, there is a duality in which I seem to live. I have analyzed and worked with images that deal with spaces within benign areas and places of transience around the city in which I dwell. I have also begun to create images that reflect the history and culture of a place like Indianapolis, but this is not the duality I speak of.

These are a part of my experience, but there is also a part of my work exploring the perceived black space. These are spaces in which black people and people of color feel very comfortable and do not have a sense of not fitting in or a need to tread lightly. Areas like the barbershop, the African American Church on Sunday, or Grandma’s house.

My work as a whole captures specific moments of isolation within various public spaces; every now and then, you may get a glimpse of a figure or a portrait. I am interested in the psychology of space.  They exhibit a cultural shift in how our spaces are constructed, areas created to order and control large groups of people, while also showing us who we perceive ourselves to be or not to be.

-Courtland Blade 2021