Making Reference

Making Reference forms a part of a new body of work by photographer Jamie Robertson that explores histories of colonial photography in the Americas. In her work, Robertson takes on the practice of ethnographic images from the history of art, particularly images of Black women in the Caribbean and South America. Robertson quietly adapts them to her own body and camera, inviting the viewer to see the archival index from which she is drawing, while also searching their visual memory for a parallel likeness. In this work, she inserts herself into a tradition of studio portraiture while also critiquing it as a site of violence and subjection. 

Robertson writes: “This series allows me to explore the history of Black Women in the Americas and how they were seen…simultaneously allowing me the agency of self-representation to confront perceptions of my own identity.” Robertson’s work is a part of a younger generation of photographers exploring the possibilities as well as the limits of photography.

Jamie Robertson is a visual artist and educator from Houston, Texas. She earned a BA in Art from the University of Houston and an MS in Art Therapy from Florida State University. She is a former recipient of the Pearlie Roberson Award for her joint Frenchtown Mural project. As an educator, Jamie is interested in cultural community development through creative youth development. Her creative practice is an autobiographical examination of history and identity in the African Diaspora through the mediums of photography, printmaking, and sculpture.