Lauren Powell Presents:
~ Deja Patterson ~
Good Time Girls - works on paper
Deja Patterson’s paintings reclaim both the female nude & the power many have attempted to take from her through horrendous fat shaming and discrimination, while moving through life as a fabulous 300 pound woman. Her lucious pinky dual toned palette and strong use of light combine perfectly, creating scenes which normalize celebrating confident women, regardless of their size. Her work is a reflection of the world we SHOULD be living in - one void of unrealistic + harmful body image standards. I admire her desire to use her platform as an artist to fight for body positivity. While not included in this sale, I also am a huge fan of her photographs, where she uses humor and satire to address the power dynamics between Black people and privileged white people. She often places herself, a Black woman, as the person of power in her compositions to challenge the roles that Black women currently play in society juxtaposed against the roles they have played historically. See more of Deja’s work on her instagram HERE: https://www.instagram.com/wonderfullyartistic/.
Deja Patterson is a Mississippi native who is currently based in New York City. She is a painter and a photographer who addresses societal discrimination against plus size women through her work. Voluptuous women are prominent in her examinations of body image, race, and sexuality. She recently earned her Master of Fine Art in Studio Art from Queens College.
A story from Deja regarding the Good Time Girls: “When I was 19, I had one of my first jobs as a makeup girl at a strip club😂 Whether or not I was a good makeup artist is totally open for debate. One thing that stuck with me while working there was how the dancers were constantly policed about their bodies. While working backstage, I vividly remember a male club owner doing body checks on the women. One dancer had love handles and a little pouch in her stomach because she recently had a baby. The club owner body shamed her openly, and told her she definitely couldn’t wear a two piece. He went on to say how she didn’t fit the fantasy role a dancer should play. The theory was that if men wanted average women, they would stay at home with their girlfriends and wives. He also told her she had to go lose about 15-20 pounds before coming back to work. This moment stuck with me for over 5 years. So I decided to paint dancers who are slightly “out of shape” because I think dancers who are overweight are equally as desirable 🤷🏽♀️ I only worked at the club for one month though. I was working there till 1:30 am and then had to be in class by 9am (I was a sophomore in undergrad and somehow maintained a 3.8 GPA)🤣🤣 When Christmas break came, I couldn’t get rides from friends to work (I didn’t have a car yet). My mom would typically drop me off at work during the breaks, and needless to say, when she found out where I worked it was a whole dub. She locked me in the house, wouldn’t take me to work for 2 weeks, and made me lose my job🤣🤣🤣 Now that I think about it, I was too young to get in the club (21+) so how in the hell was I working there🤣” - Deja