What does healing through joy look like for Black and Brown communities? Añamarié Edwards seeks to create welcoming, joyful spaces through her artwork, inviting opinions, conversation, celebration, and open-ended expression. Her brilliantly colored paintings and mixed-media sculpture reflect her experience as an Afro-Latin woman in America.
![Hair Dance Performance [action shot] (2024) - 00:10:30. Endurance performance to a curated audio of Blues, Jazz, and horror audio. Añamarié dunks her head into a small tupperware container filled with water. She holds her breath under water multiple times to the beat of the music. She gasps for air as her dirty hair gets cleansed by the water. This performance is about memories of being scared of water while washing her hair as a young girl. Añamarié is also thinking about what it means to be clean and the invasion of self-intimate joy via hair trauma while engaging in self-care. Featuring: My Flag installation (Boston, MA): wood, plexiglass mirror, kanekalon hair, crochet hair, rope, wood glue, track hair glue, acrylic paint.](/sites/wisconsinacademy.org/files/Edwards_HairDancePerformance_Web.jpg "Hair Dance Performance [action shot] (2024) - 00:10:30. Endurance performance to a curated audio of Blues, Jazz, and horror audio. Añamarié dunks her head into a small tupperware container filled with water. She holds her breath under water multiple times to the beat of the music. She gasps for air as her dirty hair gets cleansed by the water. This performance is about memories of being scared of water while washing her hair as a young girl. Añamarié is also thinking about what it means to be clean and the invasion of self-intimate joy via hair trauma while engaging in self-care. Featuring: My Flag installation (Boston, MA): wood, plexiglass mirror, kanekalon hair, crochet hair, rope, wood glue, track hair glue, acrylic paint.")
![In Living Hair: Setting 001 [detail shot] 2024, Water, 2 lace-front wigs, kanekalon hair, tank with light – 12” x 6” x 8”](/sites/wisconsinacademy.org/files/In-Living-Hair--Setting-001-Web.jpg "In Living Hair: Setting 001 [detail shot] 2024, Water, 2 lace-front wigs, kanekalon hair, tank with light – 12” x 6” x 8”")
Añamarié America Edwards' interdisciplinary arts practice is driven by a desire to represent the complexity of the Black American experience. She received a B.F.A. from Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design and a Certificate in Studio Art from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Edwards lives and works in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin Academy Offices
1922 University Avenue
Madison, Wisconsin 53726
Phone: 608.733.6633
James Watrous Gallery
3rd Floor, Overture Center for the Arts
201 State Street
Madison, WI 53703
Phone: 608.733.6633 x25
![In Living Hair: Setting 001 [detail shot] 2024, Water, 2 lace-front wigs, kanekalon hair, tank with light – 12” x 6” x 8”](https://www.wisconsinacademy.org/sites/wisconsinacademy.org/files/styles/spotlight_880x495/public/In-Living-Hair--Setting-001-Spotlight.jpg?itok=yEi0qIpt "In Living Hair: Setting 001 [detail shot] 2024, Water, 2 lace-front wigs, kanekalon hair, tank with light – 12” x 6” x 8”")
