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IN BETWEEN

Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020

In Between is a series of photographs that displays the surrender of the body to land and the connection between both. As I moved through the rocks of Maine during the summer of 2020, I found myself subconsciously inserting my body between rocks and lying on the ground.  I was looking for security and comfort in between tight spaces. I didn't know those tight spaces would be rocks. 
 

In a time when I was between three cities, and in between thoughts about the past, the present, and the future, the only place I knew that would give me comfort was Maine. 

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Maine was a place I visited in my early twenties, and it is a place where I saw myself for the first time. That one summer in college created years of longing to return. 

Read more about this series in the North Carolina University publication, Southern Cultures, in their 30-year celebration issue, "Sojourning"

Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020

drawn to dirt and rock...my body crept its way in between and on top...

Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Untitiled (from the series In Between), Desert Island Maine, Acadia National Park, 2020

in between — in the streets 

nyc, dc, pg, 2020

Ciarra K. Walters, Art in the Streets (In Between), Chelsea, New York, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Art in the Streets (In Between), Washington D.C. 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Art in the Streets (In Between), Brooklyn, New York, 2020

What I discovered: Street Art is the heart of art. 

Read more about my street art adventures in my Artletter
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Ciarra K. Walters, Art in the Streets (In Between), China Town, New York, 2020

Quartintine pushed me to an uncomfortable truth about the art world and POC artists. I had been in the art game for almost four years and visited dozens on dozens of galleries and museums. The question I continued to ask myself in 2020 was, what was the point of making art about Black people, Black bodies, and Black culture if Black people didn't have access to it?

As I watched Black artists break their way into white institutions with their work, there was still a lack of presence of Black people and people of color in these spaces (except for the security guards and custodians). 

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After creating In Between I wrestled with the idea of waiting for this work to be discovered to be placed on the white walls of a gallery or displaying the work myself. 

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In my newsletter, An Artletter v. 4, I write about the influence street art has had on my art practice, its history, and the importance of street art's existence. 

Ciarra K. Walters, Art in the Streets (In Between), Brooklyn, New York, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Art in the Streets (In Between), New York, New York, 2020
Ciarra K. Walters, Art in the Streets (In Between), LES, New York, 2020
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