JAHNAE LARAY WYATT
MFA ’26 Fine Arts Low-Residency
I am a painter that explores self-portrayal and traditional techniques of figurative portraiture informed by a Black feminist epistemology. I create with oils, acrylic, clay and printmaking as essential materials to draw figurative-landscape paintings inspired by the Pre-Raphaelite, Renaissance and Rococo artists within Western classical traditions. Figurative portraiture is a way for me to process the stories of the powerful mystical women in folklore, goddesses and truth-seeking philosophers to make an informed conclusion about my self-discoveries. My art practice addresses kaleidoscopic personhood, in frameworks by centering and intertwining the Black female depiction that investigate self-concept, imagination, mysticism and spirituality by reorienting western canon figuration onto the Black femme body. I investigate the historical underrepresentation of Black women and girls in visual art from head to heart by interlocking humancentric conventional references to the divine. I confront western ideologies from classical philosophic frameworks surrounding individuation, tragedy and mimesis. These contexts are relatable to my personal experiences in terms of physical, mental and emotional analyses and interpretations. My goal is to create a visual language that honors the complexity of these classics, offering a metamorphic spatial awareness where philosophy and art converge to elevate multidimensional intersectional consciousness.
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Jahnae Laray Wyatt is an American artist and educator born and raised in Boston Massachusetts. Her practice involves centered self-portrait oil painting to integrate female divinity onto figure; her autobiographical imagery alleviates these depictions as self-reflection from a Jungian lens. Wyatt has exhibited in the greater Boston area at the Roberts Gallery, Vandernoot Gallery and Artists For Humanity Epicenter. Wyatt has been featured on The Boston Globe, Explore Art Magazine and The Wellness portfolio E-Magazine. She worked with Chef Christopher Walker, a three-time Chopped winner, to highlight her craft as integral to her maternal-led cultural cuisine, offering an exclusively intimate sensory experience. Wyatt pursued her BFA in painting at Lesley University College of Art and Design graduating Cum Laude. She received her MFA in painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
