The title of Ebony Patterson’s exhibition comes from a gospel song. According to the artist, she wants visitors to really see the subjects in her garden. Perhaps the show demands an intense reflection about people of color and how society projects an unbalanced view. The softness of the show permits empathy and compassion.
Gardens have played an important role in the artist’s practice. Referenced as spaces of both beauty and burial, environments filled with fleeting aesthetics and mourning.
Due to the corona pandemic, public programming is postponed but you can hear directly from the artist In the video below.
Song background
“In the Garden” (sometimes rendered by its first line “I Come to the Garden Alone” is a gospel song written by American songwriter C. Austin Miles (1868–1946), a former pharmacist who served as editor and manager at Hall-Mack publishers for 37 years.
Lyrics
And the voice I hear falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses
And He tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known
The birds hush their singing,
And the melody that He give to me
Within my heart is to ringing.
And He tells me I am his own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known
But He bids me go; through the voice of woe
His voice to me is calling.
And He tells me I am His own;
And the joy we share as we tarry there,
None other has ever known.
WEST HARLEM ART FUND 