MFA candidate in Studio Art Ariel René Jackson's work is profiled in the "First Look" section of Art in America's February 2019 print and online editions. Written by Sean J. Patrick Carney, the piece describes Jackson's sculptural installations and performance videos, in which Jackson addresses the legacy of real-estate redlining and forced segregation in the US.
"Jackson came of age in post-Katrina New Orleans," writes Carney.
She enrolled at the Cooper Union in 2009 and called New York home for years. In 2017 she moved to Austin to pursue an MFA at the University of Texas. In each city, she has probed the local intricacies of segregation. These extended field studies feed her studio output, which makes complex social information systems legible through videos, installations, and quilts, to name some of the mediums she has worked in. In recent years, Jackson has extended her inquiries into rural areas, researching and codifying the history of African American farming and the racist policies to which it has been subject over several generations.
Jackson's culminating thesis work at The University of Texas at Austin will be on view from May 10 - 25, 2019 at the Visual Arts Center.