The Council on Culture & Arts is pleased to present A Symbolic Transformation: Artworks by April Fitzpatrick at the Artport Gallery and COCA’s Online Gallery from March 30 – June 13, 2022.

As an artist and board certified art therapist, April Fitzpatrick is uniquely suited to exploring the therapeutic effect of creating. As a Black woman, she is personally invested in helping heal race-based traumatic stress.

Her artistry marries contemporary abstraction with experimental narrative to produce paintings and mixed media collages that capture the layered realities of Blackness, racial trauma, identity development, and oppression. 

Using symbols, such as the pineapple, her work evokes deeply seated memories and emotions. Once a rarity reserved for the rich, the pineapple has historically signified wealth and power.

Fitzpatrick uses the fruit to represent the luxurious lifestyle of European slave owners juxtaposed against a less examined narrative that positions the pineapple as a global commodity that fueled colonialism and the movement of millions of African and Indigenous people. 

Read the rest of the story by visiting the Tallahassee Democrat

or read more by downloading the article here.