Emerging Raleigh Artist - Aliyah Bonnette

On this episode we interview mixed media emerging artist Aliyah Bonnette. We talk about the ever evolving journey of exploring various painting surfaces, utilizing quilting as a mode for generational storytelling, leaning into conflict to fuel your creative message, networking as a young artist, and using residencies to better understand your creative practice.

Aliyah Bonnette | Raleigh, NC

Mixed Media Artist

Artist Bio:

Aliyah Bonnette is a multidisciplinary artist working out of North Carolina. Working using a variety of materials, she creates painted quilts as her medium. Her work focuses mainly on the black femme experience in America and pulls inspiration from various topics in the African American Diaspora.

Artist Statement:

The figures within my work are women living in comfortable environments that allows them to reveal their authentic self. One of being feminine and in touch which their sexuality in a real way. It is not the perfect form constructed by men that has been exoticized or rendered primitive, but the reality of the black woman that we see every day when looking in the mirror. Often in my work, the Black women are partially or fully nude, however my portrayal of them is in direct opposition to the generalized view of the oversexualized Black body. It is a Black woman taking ownership of her body and refusing to let it be controlled by the white gaze. A lot of times these women are mirrors of myself and reflect my life and experiences. As I become more comfortable with myself, my pieces are becoming more personal and thus more relatable.