Ebony G. Patterson - “...the wailing...guides us home...and there is a bellying on the land...” (2021)

Ebony G. Patterson’s “...the wailing...guides us home...and there is a bellying on the land...” (2021).Credit...Courtesy of the artist and Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago

This week I’ve been looking at Ebony G. Patterson’s immersive garden installations. They’re bright, lush, and glittering: full of beads, sequins, flowers, and patterned fabrics, but there’s always something deeper happening beneath the beauty. Hidden in the layers are figures in grief, memorials, and references to violence and loss. The work pulls you in with its colour and texture, then slowly reveals heavier, more complex truths.

I’m drawn to how Patterson uses materials and techniques that are often labelled “decorative” or “feminine” (embroidery, beading, sparkles, ornament) and gives them scale and weight. In doing so, she challenges the old hierarchy where craft and beauty were seen as less serious than painting or sculpture. Her work sits within a broader conversation in contemporary art about reclaiming the ornamental as a valid and political form of expression.

In my own practice, I also work with beading, embroidery, and a palette of pinks and purples, often drawing on fairytales and myth. Like Patterson, I’m interested in how something whimsical or hyper-feminine can carry layered meanings about identity, power, and visibility.

Her work has me thinking about scale and atmosphere, and about creating spaces that viewers can step into, so they’re surrounded by the world I’ve built. It’s a reminder that beauty isn’t the opposite of criticality; the two can exist together, feeding off each other to tell a more complete story.