AT HOME & ON FILM 📸 by @damienmaloney for @elephantmagazine #48 // this whole process, from interview to portrait, was lovely and chill and smart. thank you collaborators 🍾💕 “The aesthetic is similar to a pre-teen stationary or sticker set or a personalized bedroom wall. “I’m using these motifs to both adorn them and suggest healing and domestic rituals of care,” Barnette explains, “but I’m also thinking about notation, another layer of redaction, and exploring the potential for counter-surveillance or restorative technologies.” A visual language of cuteness pervades much of her work, a seductive aesthetic that acts as a form of subterfuge for Barnette when dealing with explicitly political themes... In a vivid example of life imitating art, Barnette, her mother and father have recently bought three separate apartments within a single building in her hometown of Oakland. “It really feels like an embodiment of everything that my artwork has been about, honoring each other and celebrating the texture of everyday life,” she laughs. As Barnette puts it, “It's important to tell the story that I know best.”