April Fitzpatrick
I was thrilled to interview mixed-media artist and art therapist April Fitzpatrick. Her work explores stories of racial trauma in the Southeast United States and unearths the struggles of Blacks in White power structures.
Atlantic Senses, mixed-media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
Can you Share a bit about your background?
I have a B.A. in psychology and an M.S. in art therapy, but no formal art training besides three semesters of college courses. My artistic pursuit began as a child; reared in a different direction, it would be years before I immersed myself into the process again. A trip to Accra, Ghana made me revisit art again as I was fascinated by their use of Adinkra symbols to demystify history and culture. Upon returning to America, I saw no way out, no way to mirror what I experienced, so I didn’t create right away. By January of 2013, I was mentally and emotionally broken, and the loss of my grandmother was a catalyst for rediscovery of self. Unable to handle the mystery and abruptness of death, I painted profusely. However, the mere act of painting took me back down memory lane. From sunup to sundown, I used paint to unearth stories and heal shattered parts of myself. Soon after, I quit my job and called home to tell my mom that I was an artist; I haven’t looked back since. Art gave me meaning, art shifted my spirit, art saved my life.
What ideas are you exploring in your work?
“The Pineapple Metaphor: Expanding the Narrative,” is an ongoing series that unearths stories of racial trauma in the Southeast. Focusing on the collective memories of Black life, I explore themes of tensions, racial trauma, and liberation around navigating culture, community, and identity; articulating oppressive struggles of Blackness within White power structures; and balancing the fantisies and anxieties of memory, symbolism, and hope.
More specifically, I perform a critical analysis using three theoretical frameworks: critical race theory,sociocultural theory, and symbolic interactionism to visualize the course of Black people’s identity andcommunity development within a space and time, use of language and symbols to make sense of theirworlds, and response to racial violence. Ultimately, I am using art to consider race-informed therapeuticapproaches by allowing the narratives of others to reveal what is needed.
Can you share about your work as an art therapist and how it merges or intersects with your work in creating art experiences in communities as well as your own practice?
My role as an art therapist has been shaped by my experiences within public schools, rehabilitation centers, community spaces aiding physical and intellectual disabilities, and delinquency and substance abuse prevention programs. My art therapy practice uses a root cause analysis and sociocultural lens to develop ideas for symbolic transformation taking a critical view of one’s Lebenswelt (life-world). This is supported by integrating humanistic and psychodynamic views to better understand unconscious and conscious thoughts and behaviors. Ultimately, we cannot heal what we don't reveal. Using different artistic methods, I invite individuals and communities into creative processes that encourage self-exploration and narrative storytelling. Currently, I practice within a not-for-profit organization, providing services to children and adults recovering from either emotional, psychiatric, or substance abuse crises.
Blackbird, mixed-media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
Upon entering the community, my work shifts. As a Black visual artist and art therapist, I am gravely concerned with racism as a vector of inequity and its contribution to adverse mental health outcomes. To add, art therapy is not commonplace as a response to address racial trauma in Black communities, therefore; I expand my teachings to address timely issues. I do this using the pineapple as a guiding metaphor coupled with the art process to aid communities in reimagining their personal and familial narratives as it relates to race based traumatic stress. I welcome individuals to explore and reflect upon cultural language and symbols, signifers, and subsequent historical and intergenerational trauma. In creating these experiences, I hope to help others find new, symbolic ways to engage with society and process healing through art.
Within my own work, I center the process over the product similar to my methods in art therapy. This plays a critical role in how I begin to develop concepts and themes for my work. By prioritizing the process, I embrace vulnerability which allows me to confront the foreclosures of my memory, unpack conflated thoughts and feelings, and discover new meaning. Furthermore, to mirror my advocacy work within art therapy, I use my paintings and collages to tell Black stories. My art and process then becomes a bridge that stretches across Black remembrance, Black possibilities, and Black futures. It is my hope that as I empower those I encounter through my practice, individuals who view my work will feel the same -- a sense of connectedness and a place of belonging.
Tell me more about the pineapple metaphor.
Whoever writes the story controls the perspective. I reframe power by repurposing the iconography of the pineapple to give a new meaning to hospitality, wealth, and status. Using the pineapple’s own growth and historical narrative, I dissect the fruit into three components -- cradle, core, and crown -- to consider the impact of cultural history, personal narratives, and community on sustaining mental and emotional wellness. Through my vision and use of the pineapple, I imagine getting to the “core” of racial trauma.
Baduzm, mixed-media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
Who Controls the Narrative (The casualty of a white lie)
Black narratives have been denied, forbidden, scattered, distorted, and hidden. To demonstrate how power and privilege works to alter narratives and ignore reality, I compare the narrative evolution of the pineapple’s symbolism to the creation of one dimensional narratives of Blackness that mask the social conditions that disrupt community development and cause race-based traumatic stress.
The Cradle (Can we heal what we don’t reveal)
The cradle of a pineapple is the foundation for the development of the fruit, which demands certain conditions essential for its growth. Similar to the pineapple, people cannot thrive in harsh environments. I use the symbolism of the cradle to unearth Black stories, demonstrating how cultural beliefs, values, hape our navigation of life in a racialized society.
The Core (Make room for your crown)
We need creativity; it helps us problem solve and cope with day to day stressors. I use the pineapple’s core to mirror our inner core and ushers individuals through a creative process as a means of self discovery. Using the art process, we explore the 8 core P’s of self: prayer, passion, purpose, play, patience, pluckiness, perception, and participation. These tools support the restoration and reconstruction of narratives, which allows us to deepen our sense of belonging, externalize trauma, and make meaningful connections.
The Crown (I am because we are)
Known as the collective fruit, the pineapple is made of 200 flowers fused together to form one berry,topping itself with a crown. Artists, as the flowers of our communities, are essential to our existence.They help us to empathize and reflect, move to action, process crises, acquire knowledge, and reimaginepossibilities. Here, I honor the unique gifts each person/artist offers to our collective healing. We reflect and create art as a ritual practice that mirrors the collective nature of the pineapple. The crown reaches out, and by doing this, we bring visibility to our ideas and methods.
What is your process in creating your art?
My first steps invite an extremely cathartic process of revisiting articles, documentaries, autobiographies, and books that speak to issues of racial injustice and social change. Such materials often highlight racial trauma, mental health, neuroplasticity, locus on control, and memory. I use historical and cultural references to gain a sense of how perception influences behavior and decision making. I am drawn to the stories of the past and seek out autobiographies and visual imagery that depict Black lifeworlds. Included in this process, I spend great time reviewing some of my favorite artists and gaining insight into how they navigated the world through art. After filling my vessel with good information, I do several sketches and the rest is history.
My process is a complex weaving of acrylic paint, collage material, and pastels on canvas, paper, or wood. I also use modeling paste, fabric, and found objects to protrude from the surfaces creating a 3D effect. For each piece, I position my vision within the context of a historical reference, shifting from the Harlem Renaissance, Black Arts Movement, and New South. Following my research findings, I play various genres of music and take part in “a call and response” using artistic elements to match my affect. I transcend my fear and shed tears for generations who could not. Finally, I seal each painting with a pineapple as a ritualistic display of Black remembrance, possibilities, and futures.
Behind the Flag, mixed-media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
Distorted Perceptions, mixed-media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
Can you talk a bit about the evolution of your practice and your work?
My art practice began after returning from Accra, Ghana in 2010. While there, I was fascinated by the usage of Adinkra symbols to demystify history, culture, and ways of life. I so desperately sought to use art in a way to simplify my ideas and relieve the pressure of verbal communication. After my grandmother passed, I, in some ways, lost my words and had much difficulty expressing my emotions. Her death sparked a much larger grievance as I aimed to rediscover my core. I painted profusely in an act of liberation; I painted what I felt. I was no longer concerned about this projection of who I was supposed to be and through that process I began to heal, let go, and reconstruct my true desires which were to be free. Over time, my art began to shift as I wanted to make meaning of my experience in Africa and my life as a Black woman in America. My work journeyed through Black narratives, finding its place. The vibrancy of my color choices remained consistent, but my themes and form became concrete. At some point, I began to explore photography, graphic design, and clay. I fell in love with clay and still desire to be a clay artist some day. By 2015, I started my graduate studies. My art took another turn as I spent more time creating work alongside my research interest. Unbeknownst to me, my art practice and work during my art therapy program would inform my current work, intentional, bold, and fearless.
Which artists or leaders do you look to for inspiration?
Mary Lovelace O’neal, Emma Ross, Lois Malou Jones, Carolyn Norris, Carol M. Byard, Betye Saar, Robin Holder, Laura Wheeler Waring, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Beauford Delaney, Benny Andrews, Aaron Douglass
Imaginary Breaths, mixed-media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
Which artists do you enjoy at the moment?
Kara Walker, Cassi Namoda, Bisa Butler, Genesis Tramaine, Lavett Ballard, Tschabalala Self
What is the most memorable thing someone has said about your work?
I can’t stare at your work and walk away; I have to stay and travel around. Your work is subtle or in my face; sometimes there’s no rest and if so, it’s just for a short time. Your work makes me feel and every time I see the pineapple; I think about you and your work. It lifts my mood.
What are you working on now?
I have hopes of landing a residency soon as I really want to develop my practice and yearn for an artist community. I am exploring new concepts within the same ongoing series. One that will use pineapples to mask identity.
Lamp to my Feet, Light to my Path, mixed-media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
Sight, No Vision, mixed media artwork by April Fitzpatrick
In addition, I am working to reshape how we deliver information and engage with others regarding mental health in communities of color. I envision the literal meaning of “meeting people where they are” through a creative collective experience of artmaking. Currently, I am seeking funding and community partners to support the pineapple moving from theory to practice.
The goal is to cultivate a mobile space that welcomes and creates opportunities for communitiesaffected by racial trauma and injustice to experience therapy in a new way. Through creative expression,we can expel the grief so many of us are holding and manifest joy, which assists in the sustainability ofcommunities. I open my gift as an offering just as each flower offers to the larger pineapple.