In this body of work, McMillan utilizes found images from the Internet and the Black Panthers coloring book (made by a subsidiary of the FBI called COINTELPRO). The people are characterized by stereotypes and Ms. Merri Mack originated from a slave song. McMillan is a painter and printmaker – the artist’s vibrant palette and dynamic forms obscure the political content in her works; however, the undulating lines, fractured shapes of symbolic color, and intersecting contours invoke an underlying sense of anxiety that correlate to the racial tensions present in our divided country.
#Retouched explores the disparate meanings of touch and the act of something being retouched. Touching a person’s body can be comforting, empathetic and a form of connection; however, it can also be unwelcoming, forceful, and demeaning. Retouching is a technique that makes alterations to an image, eliminating an imperfection and implying that an improvement has been made. We have the ability to change ourselves and our environments in the physical and digital spaces, but who are we ameliorating for? Using AI powered or synthetic intelligence to use different techniques such as clone stamping, zoom quilting, liquifying, photo compositing, and digital matte painting, the artworks use a hybridization of recognizable signs, pop culture symbols, and androgynous figures that shift between the familiar and uncanny, the primordial and the
futurist, nostalgia and hope.
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#Retouched was organized in partnership with CADAF.