Alisa Banks: 'Unerased'

Alisa Banks: "Unerased"
Holaday and Seagraves Galleries

Alisa Banks (American, b. 1961) is a book, fiber, and multimedia artist whose work explores the links between contemporary culture, her Louisiana Creole heritage, and the African diaspora—including those of African descent who have been torn from their homeland. Alisa Banks: Unerased looks into these histories by digging into ancestral pasts.

In her work, Banks uses textiles, fibers, and plants as ways of to record knowledge. She explores the idea of “root reading”—looking at the histories and stories of people disconnected from Western literacy. The word “root” has many meanings: the culture of one’s ancestors, the part of a plant that provides nourishment, the base of a strand of hair, the origin of a word. The artist’s books, mixed media work, and textile collages in this exhibition dig into these various roots. Her works feature handwriting, plants, hair, and other fibers, using traditional craft processes such as embroidery, sewing, and beading.

The multi-dimensional works in Unerased challenge the systemic erasure of Black American history and honor Banks’s personal and ancestral roots. They also invite the viewer to consider home, terrain, and body as forms of history, helping to foster pride, understanding, and connectedness. The exhibition honors Black American history, challenges systemic erasure, and invites reflection on identity, heritage, and connection to one’s roots.