Migrating to the Surface

From the Artist

I see my art practice as an investigative tool, as a way to engage in dialogue, a platform for thinking, and a means to develop knowledge. My work has evolved from figurative and symbolic explorations in painting to a variety of modes that include drawing, painting, video, performance, installation and public intervention projects. Therefore, the emphasis of my work does not lie in the medium, but in creating a space to explore social contexts and collective narratives. History, film, soap-operas, fairy-tales and mythology all inform my work in that they are both narrative modes that I use as well as sites of investigation. I look for the narratives inscribed in various objects and places and find ways to add to them and at times subvert them. Because I live in the Virgin Islands, a place that has changed colonial hands seven times, the longest being Denmark and the last being the United States, I am particularly interested in the colonial and neocolonial narrative and how it shapes identity, memory and reality.
_{—Excerpted from http://www.lavaughnbelle.com/info, accessed 6-3-2021}

La Vaughn Belle brought together two different media forms to create Migrating to the Surface.Across the top of the print is a realistic spliced photo of the ocean. An individual's feet can be seen floating. Across the middle of the print are what appears to be ruler markings. Across the bottom of the print is the drawn image of the scene at the top. Four stamped figures drift amid the drawn waters of the artist.
_{—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records}