Contemporary artist Gabe Torres is The 912’s featured artist

I love to cook. It might even be one of my love languages because cooking and baking for friends and family give me joy more than cooking for myself does. But I never grew up watching cooking shows; my lessons always came from observing my mother.

The few times I did happen to catch one on TV, the cooks were always white.

So seeing everything Mashama Bailey has achieved by cooking the Southern recipes passed down from her matriarchs is so joyful for me. From the acclaim The Grey has received, to her MasterClass, and now the winner of the James Beard Award for Oustanding Chef, Black girls and boys are standing on the shoulders of the giant that is now Bailey’s legacy — not only for chefs in Savannah but all around the country.

Like she said in her acceptance speech: “Today, a little Black boy or a little Black girl can see themselves as a future outstanding chef. They can see themselves in a space that they have never seen before and do what they can not think is possible. And until just a few minutes ago, that was me.”

— Laura Nwogu, quality of life reporter at the Savannah Morning News

Follow me on Twitter at @lauranwogu_ or email me at LNwogu@gannett.com

Pulse of the 912

Savannah artist Gabe Torres can’t be put into a box. Her art aims to decompartmentalize and blur the lines of what we think we know about life. I chat with The 912’s featured artist about breaking down social constructs and the balance between materiality and meaning.

Laura Nwogu: if someone were to ask you to describe when your love of art materialized, where would that story begin?

Gabe Torres: “So I would say my love of art probably materialized when I was around 5 to 7 years old. I always drew a lot of pictures of horses and whatever I saw. Eventually, my mom is the person that really discovered that ‘OK. This is something different. She’s probably a little bit better than the average 7-year-old.’ So, around that time my mom started getting me into art classes. Every year of my life, I feel like up until graduating and then going to college for art, my mom kept me in summer classes all for art. The gallery where I grew up — Sumter Gallery of Art — I worked there for a while. I volunteered there and took classes there, so it’s something that my mom definitely fostered at a young age and she did that with all of us, but I think that’s where it pretty much started.”

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“I want to say this because I feel like there are people out there, or people of color, who don’t always know that they can do art. When I was younger, I never knew that that wasn’t something that we were told that we weren’t supposed to. I didn’t know at the time that some people are, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t do this. You should be a nurse’ and my mom was like, ‘Oh, my daughter’s an artist.’ I definitely praise her a lot because I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her investing in me in that way.’”

LN: Your art is so beautiful. There are obviously these visual elements that are so colorful and complex, but somehow familiar. But then, like all great art, there are the conversations it forces. Your art talks about breaking down these boxes that people — artists — are so often put into. How do you balance your desire to break down these social constructs with the reality that so much of the world we live in is built by these expectations?

GT: “That’s interesting because I’ve been thinking a lot about that more so recently. It’s a balance. My work is trying to decompartmentalize things that we think we know about life that has been placed in front of our eyes from colonialism. But, at the same time, equally to me as important in my work is trying to unify all races, all genders, and all sexes from the idea that we have a common enemy of being affected by colonialism. And so, there’s a balance here of trying to make sure my work shows that it’s a unified thing. It’s not always about the Black voice; it’s about the voice of humanity in general, but I do highlight specific areas.

“I think sometimes, us as people of color artists, our work can gravitate toward things because our everyday repertoire is covered with race and things like that. That’s what we’re gonna make work about, but I think that that’s a colonial construct to have that much of a grip on how we make, what we do, who we are. Trying to balance everything in life like who I am as an individual, who I am as an artist, who I am as my presence on Earth needs to be balanced by demonstrating these colonial powers don’t have an effect on me. My daily repertoire does have effects of race in it — more than what I would like to admit — but by me trying to overcome colonial powers and things like that, I try to not give the power and make my work always about it or to discuss it much, which is hard. It’s a paradox.”

LN:  I’m wondering, was that perspective something that existed in your life and then bled into your art or was it born out of your art and then kind of blend blended into your life?

GT: “That’s an interesting question because I’ve never really thought about that. But now, having to kind of like hone it in and think really deeply about it, I think that it might have been manifested in my work. Growing up, I looked at a lot of white art because the pale of history is white art. In college and being a person of color, I ventured more into people of color that make art because we were left out of the scope for a while. After coming to that conclusion, I felt like, when I was viewing a lot of black art, it was talking about a lot of racial issues. I’m not saying all of it was, but a lot of it was. So then there was this paradox of not wanting to create something that had been overdone, but understanding why we continue to make work about this; you create the best work off of your surroundings. You create the best work with what you’re most passionate about, what you feel in your gut, what bothers you, what you see every day.

“So, it’s a strange thing, but it manifested in my work because I noticed that I was gravitating toward wanting to make work about racial issues, but I was like, no, these racial issues don’t own me. It became a challenge, but I was like, OK, let’s make room for all of it.”

LN: When people look at art, they like to come to these foregone conclusions about the meaning of the art. Viewers who know about your philosophy of not just classifying yourself as a Black woman, as an environmentalist, as a mother — has that shifted their viewing experience when they look at your art?

GT: “I would say yes because it is tricky. I create these looms that are done with textiles and woven, but it leaves this mystery. You don’t know exactly what this work is about. The possibilities are endless, and it doesn’t let the viewer just automatically come to a conclusion of like, this is what this work is about. When it comes to my representational portraits, I think that it can hone it in a little bit, but then it’s still like this idea of like, ‘What is she saying by all the fabric that’s included in this? What is she saying by all this layering?’ So, I do think it leaves a question.

“I hope to believe that it makes people do a little bit deeper thinking than when you pass by a painting. If you pass by a painting in a gallery or a museum too fast, you got the meeting too soon. Why? There’s an element of surprise, but there’s also a catch-22 of like, I have no idea what this is about.”

LN: And you’ve also made a statement about your magnetic pull toward materiality. And we can see that in some of your recent textile work. When you hold on to things or materials, is there always this intention of using them for your art or does it start with sentimentality first? 

GT: “I think that it really started when I had children and I just had so much stuff like most families, especially in America. But now when I see objects, when it comes to fabric or textiles, I do think, ‘How can I use this in my work?’ I do recycle a lot of things throughout the house. I think for the most part when it comes to specific objects like fabric or maybe furniture — mainly those two things — I start to think about how can I use this differently in my work Sometimes it manifests, and sometimes it doesn’t, but I try to do the best that I can.”

LN: What’s the go-to way you keep your creative juices flowing? 

GT: “I would say that my inspiration in the beginning probably comes from reading books. Graduating from SCAD, you’re kind of forced to read a lot of books (laughs).  I’m very happy about that because, before, I wasn’t a very big reader, but now I make a point to read like every day. I just kept the wheel turning and read more things that are my choice.

“When it comes to working in the studio, I always work with music. I cannot do work without music. I cannot create without music. My mom raised me at a younger age to listen to classical music while I did my homework and work throughout the house. If there’s no music in the studio, there’s nothing being done.”

LN: My favorite and final question: Why do you love the 912? 

GT: “Oh wow. The beach and I definitely appreciate the community. It’s a community where the oddest people feel at home, and if you’re normal, then you’re odd. When I moved here, this wasn’t the final destination — and it may still not be. But when I ended up meeting my husband and when we had kids, I wasn’t planning this for Savannah. But I always said that I would not ever mind being stuck in Savannah. I wouldn’t mind growing old here because I love the downtown feel, I like the fact that SCAD repurposes structures and things like that. I like the artsy feel; you live, breathe and talk it. I do wish we had better collectors in the area and things like that, but that’s a different story. But it’s just the charm.”

For more on Gabe Torres, read an article from Do Savannah here.

This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Art of The 912

The 912 newsletter will highlight a local Black artist every two months as the header image for the weekly issue. This month’s artist is Gabe Torres.

Follow Torres on her website:

Website: gabrielleelizabethtorres.com

Juneteenth Exclusive

Contemporary artist and The 912’s former featured artist Amiri Farris wants to make his art accessible with downloadable Juneteenth print.

Download the free Savannah Morning News exclusive digital poster here. Happy Juneteenth!

Stories of The 912

1: Here are Juneteenth events happening this week in and around the Savannah region

In the Savannah region, a number of Juneteenth celebrations will be happening across the week and weekend, including ones in Pooler, Richmond Hill and in Effingham County. At the same time, a number of local institutions will be hosting events and exhibitions to see throughout the week and holiday.

2: The Grey’s Mashama Bailey takes top honor with 2022 James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef

Chef Mashama Bailey is bringing her second James Beard Award back home to Savannah. On Monday night, The Grey’s executive chef and managing partner won the coveted James Beard Award for Outstanding Chef.

3: Local, national artists embrace and reflect on Juneteenth in new exhibition at Sulfur Studios

Sulfur Studios celebrates this month with its second annual curation, “Past Presence: Commemorating Juneteenth,” uniting the work of 14 Black artists from across the country. Selected work is both a reflection on the artists’ personal history as well as an insight into their navigation of the Black experience in America.

4: Herring has money and endorsements, but he came in second. What makes Griggs so popular?

Despite the buzz and massive fundraising efforts from 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Wade Herring, his opponent Joyce Griggs almost ran away with the primary.

5: Savannah man’s family raises questions about investigation into deadly police shooting

Maurice Mincey’s family and faith leaders voiced frustration about the investigation into the Savannah man’s death just days after the Chatham County District Attorney announced his shooting by police last year was “justifiable.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: The 912: Contemporary artist Gabe Torres is The 912’s featured artist