Jessica Maria Hopkins

Artist Statement

Jessica Maria Hopkins (b. 1983, Washington, DC) is a figurative painter based in Silver Spring, Maryland. Trained at Howard University, her practice is aligned with the painting traditions of the AfriCOBRA movement.

Each figure she paints narrates her growth as a woman of color. Her portraits act as both internal and external reflections, translating personal experiences into visual expressions of vulnerability, renewal, and strength. Working between figuration and abstraction, Hopkins explores how life’s emotional range can be embodied through form.

She treats the body as an instrument—distorted and redefined through color and pattern. Experimenting with surface texture and decorative patterning, she uses color as an emotional language: grey tones suggest calm, while saturated hues signal chaos and the uncontrollable. Her work invites feeling over explanation, depicting confusion, pain, and optimism as interconnected states.

Hopkins’ work has been exhibited at the Howard University Gallery of Art and The Delaware Contemporary and is held in the collection of the University of the District of Columbia as well as private collections.