Erika DeFreitas first began researching the Black Madonna during a 2017 residency at Alice Yard in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. An uncanny, familial connection to one of the statues in a nearby town sealed DeFreitas’s interest in “La Divina Pastora,” as she undertook work that felt like forging a bond with a grandmother she never knew. DeFreitas determined that she would echo a model of care for the Black Madonna, enrobing her through collage, using magazine cutouts and photostat images of the numerous Black Madonnas that proliferate throughout the world. The face of one becomes the face of many. The Black Madonnas of Perpetual Murmurs continues the earlier series, and introduces delicate cutouts in relief. The patterns are sourced from breezeway structures — open walkways common in the West Indies and elsewhere, functioning as connecting corridors — here, also acquiring the appearance of stained glass.

ERIKA DEFREITAS’s interdisciplinary practice includes performance, photography, video, installation, textiles, drawing and writing. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including: Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery; Gallery TPW, Toronto; Project Row Houses and the Museum of African American Culture, Houston; Fort Worth Contemporary Arts; and Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita. DeFreitas holds a Master of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto. Recent exhibitions include: The Performance of Shadows, Erika DeFreitas, Tim Whiten, Betty Saer, Art Museum at University of Toronto; It’s Because of the Shimmer, the Verge and the Yet, Doris McCarthy Gallery, Scarborough ON. Her work can be found in several collections, including Museum London, The Wedge Collection, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank and Hart House, among others.