Stephany Lewis Dukes

Artist Statement

Self-taught paper collage artist working with dense arrangements that delay the event of recognition. A former researcher & practitioner in the field of behavioral phenomena and mother of two boys, departed a private practice during maternity. Holding private in-studio viewings with varied audiences forced the work to evolve over the last six years, allowing for freedom of memory to return. Dining rooms, crimson vignettes, death beds, pop culture iconology, contortions, religious forms, figures & figurines; these new forms pushed through the clandestine layers gradually setting a new perception.
My work gives into ambiguity. In direct conflict of knowing what you’re seeing, performing figures approach, haunted shapes push through to recognizable forms. A discovery for both, artist and observer, either collectively or simultaneously. It requiems your history, allowing for images to form and dissolve reflectively in silence or in discussion. The decision's ability is delayed, revealing these thin lines that exist between collective historical perceptions and individual memory references of the individual, all occurring within that moment of aesthetic judgement.
Asking yourself subconsciously, is this beautiful, is this pleasing my eye, should I stop attending?
My work is stingy, requiring more of you. A craving for patience and staring contests formed & a resentment emerged for bolded words, auspicious phrasing, and witty trademarks requiring ambiguity to frame structure.
Rotating each piece, brings small changes which force incremental movements. One image becomes many, the running narrative of movement now becomes a still image and the observer’s decisions is bought or dismissed.
Stephany Lewis Dukes
Summer 2026