Voice of the Artist: Delita Martin

This spring, the Muscarelle Museum of Art is thrilled to welcome the artist Delita Martin to William & Mary for a week-long residency. First introduced to the William & Mary community through her mixed-media work entitled Carry This In Remembrance of Me, Martin’s work addressing slavery and ancestral memory was a focal point in the Muscarelle’s exhibition 1619/2019. Martin’s art addresses issues of identity and representation, using a rich vocabulary of recent and historic signs, symbols, and language focusing on the stories of Black women. On campus, Martin will work with the Muscarelle and the Lemon Project to create an imaginative portrait of one of the documented enslaved women at William & Mary, using historic resources and recent research to guide her artistic interpretation. Over the course of the residency, Martin will engage various audiences in conversations about the work, providing opportunities for students, faculty, staff, alumni and the wider community to explore issues of representation and legacy together.

In this Voice of the Artist lecture, Martin will discuss her journey as an artist, the people and stories that inspire her, and the questions and issues that drive her work.

A reception will follow her talk. This lecture will take place in Commonwealth Auditorium in the W&M Sadler Center.

We are grateful for the support of the following partners in bringing Delita Martin to campus: Society of 1918, The Lemon Project, the Department of Art & Art History, Student Unions & Engagement, W&M Strategic Cultural Partnerships and the Bray School Lab.