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Linda Plaisted

Design / Digital, Multimedia, Painting, Paper / Book / Illustration, Photography, Visual / Media

Linda Plaisted is a visual storyteller; pushing the boundaries of media into myth. Layering her original photography and collected ephemera, she creates photographic mixed media pieces with translucent veils of narrative bleeding through time and memory into a liminal space, creating new mythologies for the future.

2023 Julia Margaret Cameron Award Winner for Women Photographers and Photolucida Critical Mass Finalist 2023

About the Artist

Linda Plaisted is an award-winning American multi-disciplinary artist whose exploratory practices include photography, collage, painting and encaustic. Her work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. She has also illustrated book and magazine covers for major publishers and contributed to art and literary journals.  Each piece she creates tells a story by pushing beyond the boundaries of medium into myth, using traditions of collection, synthesis and cultural interpretation. Approaching her work as both artist and historian, she employs her unique visionary practices to reveal the untold stories of women and nature; an effort to heal ancestral patterns and seek equilibrium in a chaotic world.  Layering her original photography and paintings with found images, ancestral documents and gathered ephemera, she creates photographic mixed media pieces with translucent veils of narrative; layers of time and memory bleeding through one another, seeking a deeper truth.        

Linda Plaisted website Linda Plaisted- Many Muses Studio

Artist's Statement

"Ain't I a Woman?" series- 2023 The deeply personal pieces in my “Ain’t I a Woman?” series were created in response to learning that I had slaveowners in my family history. and the title of the project is from a speech by Sojourner Truth. I was born in the North, but moved to the shallow south of Maryland and Virginia some thirty years ago. It was not until I began to research my ancestry that I discovered my “ancient planter” southern roots. Underneath those roots were buried the lives of generations of enslaved people, and into my karmic lineage fell the sudden, swift burden of an outstanding debt unpaid. I have spent the past several years trying to come to terms with this unholy legacy; using my art practice to work through this emotional debt. I searched through generations of family records and slave schedules to discover where my ancestors had lived and the numbers, though rarely the names, of the people who were uprooted from their own lands to work the lands of a strange shore. I used vintage found photographs alongside my original photography and created a series of photographic mixed media works layering maps and period documents to re-member and bring dignity to people robbed of their rightful stories. The titles from this series are taken from the words of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice'' written by James Weldon Johnson.  In this series of images I hope to bring light to a dark chapter in American history and give voice to untold stories while paying forward my own form of soul reparations, however inadequate.    

Featured Work

Photos

Lift every voice and sing, ’Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty; Let our rejoicing rise High as the listening skies, Let it resound loud as the rolling sea. Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us, Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us; Facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on ’til victory is won. - a hymn with lyrics by James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) later to be known as the "Black National Anthem"
These deeply personal pieces were created in response to learning that I had slaveholder roots buried deep in my family tree. I was born in the North, but moved to the south some thirty years ago. It was not until I began to research my ancestry that I discovered my ancient planter southern roots. Underneath those roots were buried the lives of generations of enslaved people, and into my karmic lineage fell the sudden and swift burden of that crime against humanity. I have spent the past several years trying to come to terms with this unholy legacy; using my art practice to work through this emotional debt. I searched through generations of family documents and slave schedules to discover where my ancestors had lived and the numbers, though rarely the names, of the people who worked the land against their will. I used these found photographs, maps and documents to re-member and bring dignity to people robbed of their rightful stories. In this series of images I hope to bring to light these untold stories and pay my own form of soul reparations, however inadequate.
These deeply personal pieces were created in response to learning that I had slaveholder roots buried deep in my family tree. I was born in the North, but moved to the south some thirty years ago. It was not until I began to research my ancestry that I discovered my ancient planter southern roots. Underneath those roots were buried the lives of generations of enslaved people, and into my karmic lineage fell the sudden and swift burden of that crime against humanity. I have spent the past several years trying to come to terms with this unholy legacy; using my art practice to work through this emotional debt. I searched through generations of family documents and slave schedules to discover where my ancestors had lived and the numbers, though rarely the names, of the people who worked the land against their will. I used these found photographs, maps and documents to re-member and bring dignity to people robbed of their rightful stories. In this series of images I hope to bring to light these untold stories and pay my own form of soul reparations, however inadequate.
These deeply personal pieces were created in response to learning that I had slaveholder roots buried deep in my family tree. I was born in the North, but moved to the south some thirty years ago. It was not until I began to research my ancestry that I discovered my ancient planter southern roots. Underneath those roots were buried the lives of generations of enslaved people, and into my karmic lineage fell the sudden and swift burden of that crime against humanity. I have spent the past several years trying to come to terms with this unholy legacy; using my art practice to work through this emotional debt. I searched through generations of family documents and slave schedules to discover where my ancestors had lived and the numbers, though rarely the names, of the people who worked the land against their will. I used these found photographs, maps and documents to re-member and bring dignity to people robbed of their rightful stories. In this series of images I hope to bring to light these untold stories and pay my own form of soul reparations, however inadequate.
These deeply personal pieces were created in response to learning that I had slaveholder roots buried deep in my family tree. I was born in the North, but moved to the south some thirty years ago. It was not until I began to research my ancestry that I discovered my ancient planter southern roots. Underneath those roots were buried the lives of generations of enslaved people, and into my karmic lineage fell the sudden and swift burden of that crime against humanity. I have spent the past several years trying to come to terms with this unholy legacy; using my art practice to work through this emotional debt. I searched through generations of family documents and slave schedules to discover where my ancestors had lived and the numbers, though rarely the names, of the people who worked the land against their will. I used these found photographs, maps and documents to re-member and bring dignity to people robbed of their rightful stories. The titles are taken from the words of the "Black National Anthem," "Lift Every Voice" written by James Weldon Johnson. In this series of images I hope to bring to light these untold stories and pay my own form of soul reparations, however inadequate.

Written Works