Deborah Roberts is a mixed media artist who works across painting, collage, text and installation. Roberts’ figurative works challenge ideas of beauty and depict the complexity of Black subjecthood. Her artworks explore themes of childhood, race, identity politics and gender through symbolism and double meanings.
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Deborah Roberts was born in Austin, Texas, USA in 1962 where she now lives and works as an artist. She studied at the University of North Texas, Denton, Texas in 1985, and then Syracuse University as a Research Fellow in New York in 2014.
Roberts is well known for her portraiture collages and paintings that explore topics of Black girlhood and childhood. Her artworks aim to challenge traditional, Western ideas of Black beauty and identity, as well as deal with issues that Black children face.
Deborah Roberts works in mixed media and collage, meaning her artworks are made using a range of different materials such as papers, graphite, ink and acrylic paint. Roberts creates large-scale artworks showing striking, fragmented portraits – often combining vibrant pattern and colour against simple backgrounds.
Consider the Formal Elements of art… Which do you think are most prominent in the diptych ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow and tomorrow’, (2023) above?
The artist has made clever use of pattern, contrast and colour to instantly draw our eye to the faces in the middle of the piece. There is also symmetry in the layout of the work that creates a sense of balance. Why do you think Roberts has decided to make use of both a black then white background? Can you see any other compositional elements in the work?
Look at the piece ‘Little Debbie’ above. This is a series of self-portraits, using photographs of the artist from when she was younger. How do you think the series of four collaged portraits explores ideas of identity?
Roberts uses collage to show different layers, colours and textures. Each face looks like it has carefully been dismantled and rearranged. Using collage allows the artist to reflect the challenges of young, Black children trying to build their own identities.
The artist collages together several faces or features to make up one image, disrupting traditional ideas of the black image in Western art. Roberts then directly invites the viewer to look for humanity within the works by having the eyes of the figure(s) looking straight out.
Top facts about artist Deborah Roberts
- Deborah Roberts was born in America in 1962
- She lives and works in Austin, Texas
- Roberts received her MFA from Syracuse University, New York
- She is one of eight children
- Her artwork has been exhibited internationally across the USA and Europe
- Roberts’ work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
- Roberts has always loved drawing and drew for other students in her school to earn some money
- When she didn’t have any paper, Roberts drew on the back of the couch at home (and got into a lot of trouble!)
- She is influenced by Dadaism and artists such as Kurt Schwitters
- Roberts has over 60,000 followers on her Instagram account
To create her artworks, Deborah Roberts uses collages and groups different parts of faces together. By cutting up and overlapping different features, she challenges the notion that there is not one monolithic idea of blackness; each piece has multiple faces, multiple people and multiple experiences in one. When the collaged elements of the work are complete, Roberts adds drawing and painting over the top.
Look at the pieces above. How do you think Roberts has created a sense of innocence and personality in the work, even though there are multiple faces used to create each piece?
Look at the piece, Jamal (2020), above. Can you think of 5 adjectives to describe the artwork? Which parts do you think have been made with collage, and which have been painted?
In Between Them, (2019) we can see three young, black children standing closely to each other looking directly out towards the viewer. Their faces are made up of different facial features all collaged together. We can assume the children are friends as they are standing closely together and in relaxed positions – one has their arm behind another. The children are wearing brightly patterned clothes that have a beige, brown and neutral colour palette, apart from bright red and blue pops of colour which act as accents. The artist has used colour and specific pattern styles to create a balance from left to right and top to bottom in her composition.
How do you think the artist has drawn attention to the facial features of the children? Think about her use of negative space, colour and pattern.
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Open the assistant in a separate window and move it next to your artwork or photograph. Your answers stay with you. Build your own analysis step by step. Use the prompts to make links between what you see, how the artist worked, the mood created and your own ideas. Analyse an artwork using the questions below. Look closely at the artwork and describe what is visible before thinking about its meaning. Describe visible details such as people, objects, setting, colours, shapes and actions. Focus on what you can actually see; save ideas about meaning for later. Sentence starter: Can you be more precise? What details tell you this? Think about the focal point, scale, unusual details and where your eye travels. Sentence starter: Where does your eye move next? How has the artist guided it? Explore the visual language: line, shape, colour, tone, texture, pattern, space, form and composition. Choose the elements you can support with visible evidence. Sentence starter: Can you name a specific area of the artwork as evidence? Look at the overall palette. Consider whether it is warm, cool, limited, complementary, analogous, contrasting, muted or vibrant, and notice where colours appear. Sentence starter: How would you describe the overall palette? Which colours work together or contrast? Is the scheme warm, cool, limited, muted or vibrant, and how does it affect the artwork? Connect two or more choices, such as colour and mood, line and movement, or tone and depth. Sentence starter: Does the colour strengthen the mood, or does another element change the effect? Think about materials, methods and visible evidence of how the artwork may have been made. Use visible clues such as marks, layering, edges, surface and finish. Sentence starter: What visual evidence supports your idea? Could the mark have been made another way? Choose a process you could test in your own sketchbook, rather than simply copy the finished image. Sentence starter: What would you change about the technique to make it your own? Explain the feeling or atmosphere and link it to visible choices. Avoid treating one colour as having only one meaning. Choose precise words, such as tense, calm, energetic, uneasy, playful or lonely. Sentence starter: Could another viewer feel differently? Which details support your interpretation? Look at the whole palette and connect it with tone, composition, subject and marks. Sentence starter: Which parts of the colour scheme help create this mood? Are other features—such as tone, line, texture, shape or composition—also contributing? Could the same palette create a different mood in another artwork? Make clear links between what you noticed and what you plan to do next. Think about an approach, not copying the artist’s exact image. Sentence starter: How could you combine this with an idea, material or subject from your own project? Make your next step specific and practical. Sentence starter: How will you judge whether the experiment worked? What could you change if it does not? Look closely at the photograph. Describe what is visible before interpreting its meaning. Describe the subject, setting, objects, people, gestures and details actually visible in the photograph. Sentence starter: What small detail might another viewer overlook? Identify the focal point and consider framing, viewpoint, foreground and background. Sentence starter: How might a different crop or viewpoint change what you notice? Examine framing, camera angle, focus, depth of field, exposure, contrast, light and colour or monochrome. Consider the crop, rule of thirds, leading lines, symmetry, viewpoint, negative space and the relationship between foreground and background. Sentence starter: What would change if the camera were moved higher, lower or closer? Look at the direction and quality of light, highlights, shadows, contrast and the palette. Black-and-white photographs can be analysed through tonal range. Sentence starter: Could the lighting be natural, artificial or mixed? What evidence supports your answer? Consider focus, depth of field, motion blur, shutter speed and how these direct attention. Do not assume the camera settings are known. Sentence starter: How would a wider depth of field or a faster shutter speed change the image? Investigate how the image might have been captured and produced. Consider digital editing, analogue darkroom techniques and physical alterations made by hand to photographic prints. Use evidence to discuss lens choice, camera position, exposure, shutter speed, aperture, film grain, digital noise or editing. Only claim a method when it is known. Sentence starter: Could this effect have been created in-camera, through digital editing, in the darkroom or by physically altering a print? What evidence can you see? Consider digital adjustments and retouching; analogue darkroom methods such as dodging, burning and photograms; and physical editing by hand, such as cutting, tearing, folding, stitching, scratching, collage, drawing, painting or layering onto a printed photograph. Only describe methods as facts when you have evidence. Sentence starter: Compare digital editing, darkroom manipulation and editing a print by hand. How might stitching, collage, scratching or painting onto the photograph change its meaning or mood? Interpret the photograph, supporting your ideas with visible evidence rather than assumptions. Use precise language and connect it to light, tone, framing, focus and subject matter. Sentence starter: Could a different viewer interpret the same image differently? Why? Consider context, storytelling, documentary or staged approaches, and what is included or excluded by the frame. Distinguish observation from interpretation. Sentence starter: What might be happening outside the frame? How does that affect your interpretation? Turn your analysis into a practical experiment for your own photography. Choose a compositional or technical approach to explore, rather than copying the photograph. Sentence starter: How could you achieve a similar effect with either a digital camera or analogue film? Plan your subject, location, framing and light, then decide whether to edit digitally, experiment in the darkroom or alter a physical print by hand. Explain how you will compare results. Sentence starter: How could you develop one photograph further through digital editing, darkroom techniques or cutting, stitching, collage or drawing on a print? Read, edit and connect your ideas. This is a draft, so make sure it reflects what you actually observed and thought. Spelling support applies common corrections across answer boxes and the final draft, alongside your browser’s English spell checker. Always check suggested changes. Feedback helps you develop your own ideas; it does not grade your work.GCSE Art Annotation Assistant
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Deborah Roberts creates artworks that explore themes related to childhood and visual culture. Her work aims to highlight a broader view of beauty by using collage, pattern and colour in an inventive and original way, showing her figures in playful yet powerful positions. Speaking about her work, Roberts says:
I was working within notions of blackness and black beauty and identity politics, the way they have historically been structured. Where if you do not have blonde hair and blue eyes, then you aren’t considered beautiful.
Teaching Deborah Roberts? This free interactive artist research quiz helps art students explore Deborah Roberts’s self-portraits and symbolism through knowledge questions, close looking, artwork comparisons and a creative drawing activity. Suitable for art lessons or independent study.
Deborah Roberts
Art Detective Quiz
Explore the artwork, follow the clues and make something of your own.
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Have a look at Deborah Roberts’ Instagram page to see more of her work and interviews with the artist:
How to create artwork like Deborah Roberts:
I would recommend collecting a large range of images that you would like to work with first; newspapers, magazines and leaflets etc. would be a good place to start! Roberts uses acrylic in her work and the brands below are good quality. You could also outline features and parts of the collages like Roberts does, using Posca Pens for more control:
For more insight into Roberts’ work and to hear from the artist herself, the interview below is great:
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What do you think about Deborah Roberts artworks? What themes or ideas can you see the artist exploring in her work? Let me know in the comments!
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