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Aryel René Jackson



    Forecasting
    A global story
    Inheritance
    Confuserella
      Printmaking
      Panels



    Artist Statement
    Curriculum Vitae (CV)
    Instagram   @aryelrenejacksonstudio
    Email    admin@aryelrenejackson.com


    ©2025  Aryel René Jackson Studio

    Descendance
    2020
    5:26 minutes
    Its Extended Remnant
    2018
    4:30 minutes
    Inheritance is a body of work by Ariel René Jackson that explores how inheritance—both material and cultural—shapes identity and society. Traditionally defined as the transfer of property from one generation to the next, inheritance also includes stories, traditions, and the knowledge passed down through movement, labor, and land. Through sculpture, video, and performance, Jackson examines the ways in which history lives in the body, how culture is formed and transformed, and how inherited objects and practices carry both trauma and resilience.

    This body of work incorporates materials rich in historical and personal significance, including a rusted swingblade belonging to Jackson’s grandmother, chalk molds, soil, chalkline, chalkboard paint, and a wood engraving of a Senegalese woman working in a rice field from Judith Carney's Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas (2001). These materials speak to histories of agriculture, labor, and loss, particularly in the American South, where Black farmers have faced systemic land dispossession. By modifying inherited tools and reinterpreting their functions, Jackson meditates on the relationships between land, lineage, and storytelling.

    A key piece within Inheritance is Descendance, a video work featuring interdisciplinary tap dance artist Michael J. Love, with an original score by jazz musician Joseph C. Dyson Jr. Premiering at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery as part of Jackson’s 2021 Jacob Lawrence Legacy Residency, Descendance was filmed inside an empty swimming pool at the George Washington Carver Center. In this performance, Love and Jackson transform an American flag stenciled with soil through movement, echoing themes of erasure, resilience, and reimagination. This work builds on Carver's Message in Blue (2019), where Jackson and Love altered a soil-based American flag in the same pool while a recording of George Washington Carver reciting Equipment played. Unlike previous works, Descendance is Jackson’s first film without language or text, allowing movement and sound to take precedence.

    Jackson’s practice is deeply tied to memory and land, drawing inspiration from their Louisiana upbringing and family history of farming and storytelling. Their film installation Its Extended Remnant (2019) transforms their grandmother’s rusted swingblade into a palimpsest, reimagining the tool’s history by attaching a chalk appendage that marks its past and future. This piece reflects on Jackson’s grandparents’ struggles—once successful farmers, they lost much of their land due to racist lending practices and systemic barriers to literacy. The installation considers how objects hold memory and how they can be activated to challenge narratives of loss and dispossession.

    Through Inheritance, Jackson invites viewers to reflect on the ways movement, land, and material culture connect generations. By reworking tools and traditions, their practice honors the past while imagining new ways to reclaim and reshape inherited histories.