Memphis

Memphis (b. 1969, Southfield, MI)—whose given name is Mark Young—is a Los Angeles–based artist whose collage, mixed-media assemblage, and digital compositions celebrate diasporic African identities. Drawing subject matter and motifs from African tradition, Afro-Cuban mysticism, and contemporary African American culture, Memphis's works coalesce in richly referential matrices embellished with pastel and acrylic paint. Confronting past and present-day bigotry, Memphis appropriates and affirmatively recombines racial slurs and prejudiced representations from textual sources, photographs, and even antique objects. Reflecting on his process, he has written, “My work involves refashioning these bitter effigies in such a way as to render them powerless and serve as a launch pad for new cultural questions, introspection, tolerance, forgiveness, and self-love.” Memphis's work also borrows spiritual imagery from folk magic rituals including Vodou, Hoodoo, and Santería—the last of which was practiced by his Honduran grandmother. 

Educated at the Atlanta College of Art, Memphis has exhibited internationally and throughout the US. In 2003, his practice was featured in a solo exhibition, Pure Dee Misery and Other Work by Memphis, at California State University, Fullerton. His work is in the collections of institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Southern University at New Orleans; Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; University of Texas San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures; and the Inter-University Program for Latino Research, Houston.