In this collaboration, KIPNZ Editions has partnered with Damien Davis to present textile versions of his “Blackamoor V-carve” graphic works.

Damien Davis (b. 1984) is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work explores historical representations of blackness by unpacking the visual language cultures use to code and decode representations of race. Through design and digital modes of production Davis’ work draws on a vast store of Black iconography to create bold designs that invite viewer engagement.

In these textile works, Davis’ motifs are drawn from the ornamental Blackamoors sculptures ubiquitous throughout Italy. Shapes such as wine grapes, cowrie shells, and oversized lips are rendered by the artist in response to these ornamental objects; an ongoing catalogue of the ways race is coded by and within cultures.