Tasanee Durrett aka Visories

Growing up, my mother would always take me to the museums and art fairs in Chicago where I was born and raised. The artwork and the artists that I was exposed to were phenomenal, but where were the artists that looked like me? Where was the artwork that had people of color?

As I grew older, I started dreaming of museums and art events filled with people of color from all cultures and backgrounds. I began stepping out of my comfort zone and drawing what has never been and still isn’t the norm: Black Culture and Black Stories. This journey has led me to understand more of who I am as I learn more about the stories of the brown and black communities.

I’m a minimalist artist who explores the themes of Black Stories in the realms of identity, culture, and placemaking/architecture. My artwork utilizes mediums of drawing and mixed media to display narratives of Black existence that are typically kept hidden from us. I use poetry, experiences, memory, and historical literature.

I draw using one line – meaning, each piece is drawn with my hand never lifting from the medium that I work with until it is absolutely complete. I specialize in contour drawing, also known as “single-line” drawing. I enjoy the complexity behind the minimal nature of the technique. It reminds me of the Black Diaspora and how blackness is seen as a simple beauty made up of complex histories, essences, and backgrounds.