Athena Lynch is a trans-disciplinary artist whose work shifts narratives, bridges sculpture, communal/immersive installation, placemaking/ cultivating spaces and redefining connectedness. Her practice refutes preconceived Blackness. Her work chronicles memories and ancestral spirituality through video, textiles, sculpture, and site-specific engagement to build a counter-narrative of monolithic Blackness. These visual narratives assert a presence against an otherwise erasure from the white-centered narrative. Her work centers Black bodies and African diasporic perspectives by addressing the past and present. Athena utilizes Sankofa, the Ghanaian principle of, return and get it, which governs this work. She uses her work to speak to all people in an effort to relay the message that Blackness is not a rigid construct. Contrary to the narrative of the collective history of slavery, the media, and employed media smear campaigns of black bodies. Her work tells these stories to acknowledge the past in order to move forward.

 

Athena’s artistic practice is intertwined with activism and community organizing. Since 2020, she has organized a Juneteenth Celebration in downtown Portland, Maine for three consecutive years. This annual event bridges art-making, education, and history in a social space.  She also virtually mapped all the Juneteenth events across the state of Maine bridging all the events together as a collective.

 

 

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