Amber Janay Cooper

Amber Janay Cooper
Washington, DC, USA

STATEMENT

I embrace worldbuilding through collage as a spiritual art practice. My collage practice cites Octavia E. Butler’s mandate to “create your own worlds” and “write yourself in.” My work also responds to another Black woman speculative fiction writer, N.K. Jemisin, who wondered – as The Jetsons glided through a predominantly white utopia in the upper atmosphere – “what happened to the people beneath the clouds?” The world beneath the clouds that I conjure with paper collages using vintage Black cultural ephemera is rooted at the intersection of Blackness, Queerness, peace, and piety. I am deeply influenced by beauty, romance, storybook fantasies and fairytales, as well as the life of the spirit – glimmers of joy, yearning to be understood, and rebelling against strict definition. My collage world draws inspiration from my identity as a religious person with respect for expressions of faith, spiritual fervor, and mystic love. It is a world where supreme beings are diverse and within our reach, visible and tangibly involved in the Earth realm, longing for us unconditionally as we are seeking them.

Altogether the collages exist in a universe where Blackness is rich, boundless, blending with flora and fauna, reaching into space, and known by an omnipresent higher power depicted as a single eye or an overlooking guardian.

While focused series are not uncommon in my practice, one should understand that meaning in each of my collages is derived from the source described above, though the settings of each collage vary, whether familiar landscapes, far off worlds, or inside dreams. Human/creature hybrids and disembodied forms break down the bondage of the human form and accompanying social constructs allowing the subjects to realize they are essential to creation just as they are. As a composer of cut and torn paper, I learn more about myself, practice vulnerability, and promote the imagination as a liberatory tool.

BIO

Amber Janay Cooper (she/they) is a Washington, DC-based self-taught collage artist who uses the visions spun by her imagination and a healthy collection of vintage African American magazines from the 1960s and 70s to create her work. Originally from Georgia, Amber also lived for some years in the Shenandoah Valley. She began her collage practice in 2022 as a therapy exercise. Her work has been published by Suboart Magazine, Create! Magazine, Wilder Collage, and Visionary Art Collective. She was also a contributor to The Water Behind Us, an art and creative writing zine published by Porchwater Press. Their collage practice serves to exercise their imagination. In doing so she learns more about herself, clarifies her worldview, practices vulnerability, and promotes the power of the imagination as a liberatory concept for all of us seeking community, equity, and love.

ARTIST CONTACT

EMAIL | WEBSITE

IMAGES