Untitled (Grey Cloth Face)

Alicia Henry's art consists of fabric and other materials sewn together to form a mask-like face. She is concerned with issues of identity and how it is formed by or navigates relationships. "Isolation and interaction is a common recurring idea," she notes. "I am interested in the complexities and the contradictions surrounding familial relationships as well as societal differences and how these variations affect individual and group responses to themes of beauty, the body, and identity." Although trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and Yale University, Henry's greatest inspiration comes from her study of folk art and of ritual sculpture. Her masks tap into the psychological and spiritual functions of ritual masks in African cultures yet suggest symbolic self-portraiture and the social wearing of 'masks' that represent layers of identity.