Ari Brielle
Ari Brielle is a visual artist born and based in Dallas, Texas. Her work explores the politicization and vastness of the Black American femme identity and experience. Painting from photographs of women and femmes in her life, Brielle creates her own visual vocabulary that chronicles Black contemporary experiences.
Brielle completed her BA at the University of North Texas in 2016, where she cultivated her studio practice and studied Interdisciplinary Art and Design. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Intermedia at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 2017 Ari Brielle was named one of Dallas’ Rising Stars, and her work has been included in group exhibitions across DFW. In 2019 the artist held her second solo exhibition, Safe Place, at the Oak Cliff Cultural Center in Dallas, TX. Two pieces from that body of work have been featured in print publications--one in Bitch Magazine, and one on the cover of Sana Sana, a book of poetry by Ariana Brown. In 2021, Ari Brielle participated in the Texas Biennial, curated by Ryan N. Dennis and Evan Garza. From December 2021 through April 2023 the artist’s site-specific installation Poisoned by Zip Code is on view at the Dallas Museum of Art. The multimedia installation is a part of the C3 exhibition Rooted, and explores the effects of environmental racism in Dallas, TX through the story of Marsha Jackson and Shingle Mountain.
My work centers around Black American femme identity, and examines how the politicization of our bodies affects our experience. Oppressive images of Black women in culture (the jezebel, the mammy, the strong black woman, etc.) contribute to danger and vulnerability in work and social environments, appropriation and dehumanization, lack of proper treatment in doctor's offices, murders at the hands of the police, etc. I’m interested in not only these struggles and others, but the infinite beauty of Blackness.
I aim to beautifully and mindfully render the subject, while subtly addressing our vast experiences. My intention is not to educate or explain, but simply to affirm. If you know, you know. Some images work with the ways in which we adorn our bodies—which are often not safe from scrutiny, appropriation, or violence. Some images situate the body as an altar-- a place to celebrate, honor, and grieve lives lost. And some images exist simply to be.