January 22 - August 20, 2021

Philadelphia artist Marian Bailey is a self-taught illustrator, designer, muralist, painter, and street artist. Her work focuses on “the beauty of blackness with a hyper focus on dark skin black women.” Bailey’s overarching theme to “offset the anti-black narratives that permeate society,” is depicted in her resulting imagery that represents what she wanted to see as an adolescent.  

Saturated colors, bold shapes, stylized forms, and patterns describe Bailey’s aesthetic. Her portraits typically feature real and imagined people who appear larger-than-life as their centralized presence commands the composition. They are made to be beautiful, positive, and to “proclaim that despite it all, black women have been and will continue to be everywhere.” Here, Bailey has created three black women—one standing on the moon, one scuba diving in the ocean, and one larger female in the middle.  

Bailey has stated that the woman in the center is meant to ground the two scenarios on either side of her. The woman’s confidence and her sense of self are evident. Her matter-of-fact stance and outward gaze remind us that these magical and liberating experiences are universal and that black women have been and are everywhere.  

Visit marianbaileyart.com.