"You have the right to make whatever work you want. By shutting down what can and cannot be, you start to censor yourself. I was a bit pissed off, thinking: why should you pander to what people think you should be and sit within the box that they've created?"
"I think for years people thought that was the only work I had ever made"
"The Blonde, which examines Eurocentric ideas of beauty and Language of Flowers, inspired by the Victorians' symbolic use of flowers to communicate messages."
Joy Gregory studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1980s amid few Black students and experienced a rejected submission for being considered "not Black enough." She prioritizes exploration of photography's capabilities and began by experimenting with self-portraiture, producing the 1990 Autoportrait series of nine black-and-white images. Gregory's work spans still life, portraiture, film and textiles and interrogates identity, cultural memory and linguistic traditions. She received the £110,000 Freelands award in 2023. More than 250 works will be displayed in the Whitechapel Gallery retrospective Catching Flies With Honey, including The Blonde and Language of Flowers, plus a new two-decade commission.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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