Alisa Banks: unerased
Alisa Banks: Unerased presents the artist’s continued exploration of links between contemporary culture, her Louisiana Creole heritage, and the African diaspora by digging into ancestral pasts.
Banks explores the idea of “root reading”—looking at the ways histories, traditions, and stories were shared by people once forcibly disconnected from Western literacy. The word “root” has many meanings: the culture of one’s ancestors, the part of a plant that provides nourishment, the base of a strand of hair, the origin of a word. The work presented in this exhibition dig into these various roots, incorporating handwriting, plants, hair, and other fibers, and using traditional craft processes such as embroidery, sewing, and beading.
The multi-dimensional works in Unerased challenge systemic erasure and honor ancestral roots. They invite the viewer to consider home, terrain, and the body in relation to history, helping to foster pride, understanding, and connectedness.
Solo exhibition at the Holaday and Seagraves Galleries, Colorado Springs Fine Art Center, February 7 - September 6, 2025. Installation images courtesy of .Wes Magyar.
Note - click arrows in gallery below to view the exhibition.
