I began what I consider to be my true art practice during my MFA studies at the University of Saskatchewan. My MFA thesis, entitled "There is no one story of black girlhood" spoke about my experiences as a young black girl growing up in an all white community in the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Before this, I had struggled with photographic images of landscapes and what I thought were ideal images of women in today's society - subjects that meant little or nothing to me.

My MFA experience opened my eyes to what I now consider my true passion: creating work using mixed media and installation that speak of the injustices and hypocrisies that exist within a white dominant society. These injustices extend to the internalized racism that is a direct result of a society that for centuries has negated our experiences as black women. Most recently, I have begun work that investigates the notion of "colourism" - prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on color. Using pyramidal structures and grids I investigate the hierarchies that sometimes exist within the black community. Within my work there is an underlying notion that racism and prejudice based on the hue of one’s skin is both ridiculous and infantile. This is most noticeable in the pyramids, constructed using the idea of building blocks, in which I bring the idea of colourism to the level of playing with children’s toys. Although my work is based on issues of race and representation, I use myself as the subject, sometimes juxtaposing the self-portrait with texts from personal memories. Although some black women have similar experiences, I do not claim to speak for them.

Rebecca Fisk was born in Calgary, Alberta, and grew up in a small village on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Her experiences growing up there as one of very few black children has become the basis for her art work, which centers around the notions of memory, identity and representation in a white dominant world. Fisk holds a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan (1997). She has participated in group exhibitions, including Style Council (MSVU Art Gallery, 1999), and has been both a regular participant in and independent curator for the yearly exhibition Sistervisions: Contemporary Black Voices (most recently, co-curator with Pamela Edmonds for Sister Visions III: Through Our Eyes at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, 2001). Fisk is a member of Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Black Artists Network of Nova Scotia, and an Associate Member of Eyelevel Gallery in Halifax.

photo-transfer on canvas

twelve canvases

each 43.2 x 28.0

nobody knows my name 2001

installation

55 cardboard boxes, acrylic paint

152.4 x 152.4 x 152.4