AUBREY EDWARDS
Overflow. 2023, Photographic print on aluminum, stereo sound. Music by Renee Benson. Running time: 4 minutes, looped.
Creatively interprets the experience of N’Shavia:
“So it's just me trying to get back to reality. A typical day for me is just hanging with my daughter, trying to brighten myself up, doing schoolwork, just trying to stay positive, trying to focus and do great things each day.”
I craft images to be vessels—visual invitations encouraging the viewer to expand and learn more about the person, the landscape, the object, the ritual, the story. It is deeply humbling to work alongside community members to collaboratively tell stories
of experience, as these stories fundamentally build spaces of commonality and connection.
Place is inseparable from the story. I pull profound inspiration from the awe of the natural world, the brackish beauty of our bayous and waterways, and the spirit of this place—ancient and modern.
Overflow centers the grounding practices of emotional and sensory calming.
Such practices include spending time with the water, listening to music, breathing, being still. This piece encourages the viewer to embrace those same grounding practices in relation to each other inside the gallery space.
Aubrey Edwards (b. 1979, Loma Linda, CA; based in Laramie, WY and New Orleans, LA) is an award-winning photographer, youth advocate, and healing- centered trauma-informed arts educator. Over two dec- ades, she has co-created space with young people in an array of capacities—utilizing her background in collabora-tive anthropology to connect organizations, policy makers, artists, and teachers—to jointly amplify youth voices. Edwards is presently working alongside journalist Tennessee Watson in Wyoming, hosting an annual youth justice institute where young folks learn about their rights while making public art and media, centering their voices in conversations around juvenile justice reform. Exhibited internationally, Edwards holds a MS in Urban Studies from University of New Orleans, a Bachelor of Journalism from UT Austin, and an AAS in Photography from Austin Community College. Currently she is enrolled in a master’s program at the University of Wyoming focusing on anthropology, the environment, and natural resources.