ALEXIS MCGRIGG
b. 1989, United StatesInterdisciplinary artist Alexis McGrigg examines themes of spirituality, space, identity and collective consciousness. Through conceptual narratives and figurative abstraction, McGrigg explores the multiplicity of Blackness, independent from the physical body, seeking to allow the viewer a wider perspective of the vastness of our existence.
Early Years
American artist Alexis McGrigg was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1989. She has spoken about her love of artistic creation as a child. After the Mississippi School of the Arts, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Art in painting from Mississippi State University in 2012 and a Master of Fine Art from Texas Tech University in 2017.
Alexis McGrigg: Artworks
Alexis McGrigg’s work explores the significance of Blackness—but this means more than Black bodies: Blackness manifests itself via figurative abstraction, celestial and metaphysical space, our shared existence on Earth, and the idea of spirituality and its relationship to being.
Her narrative around Blackness contends that Black people of all heritages come into being by travelling to and from a larger theoretical plane: The Beloved, a space designed for the liberation and exploration of Black consciousness.
McGrigg’s visual language is directed by her choice of materials: layers of fabric dyes are soaked into drenched watercolour paper and canvas (often mixed with acrylic and charcoal) to create depth and multidimensionality. Abstract figures emerge from a colour palette of violet and turquoise, with appearances from gold and magenta. Her video art also features layers, and her work creates a “picture plane” acting as a window into alternate worlds.
Into the Beloved (2026) featured works including Portrayal of the Same (2022), From Earth: a Guide for the Soul (2022) and Kindred (2022), all assembled with Procion fibre-reactive dye on canvas, sometimes also featuring gold mica powder. Depicted figures appear fleetingly, in a state of metamorphosis, as the artist herself has described as “like a sticky web of tenuous vines”.
Family and ancestry featured in A Personal Constellation (2025), where McGrigg used gold leaf on black-and-white photographs to consider memory, reverence and the concept of souls that have entered The Beloved.
McGrigg’s film Alterity: Unknown Histories (2023) focuses on a figure (played by the artist) moving through land in Utica, Mississippi, exploring spirituality and her relationship with spaces occupied by her ancestors.
Alexis McGrigg: Exhibitions
Select Solo Exhibitions
- In The Beloved, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA (2026)
- In The Beloved, Almine Rech Gallery, Brussels, Belgium (2023)
- The Labour of Being, Almine Rech Gallery, Paris, France (2022)
- Blackness: Violet Deep, AND Gallery, Jackson, Mississippi (2019)
Select Group Exhibitions
- Call Home, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, Mississippi (2025)
- New Worlds:__Women to Watch 2024, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (2024)
- Who Lit the Fire?, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana (2023)
- States of Blackness, Black Cultural Archives, London, UK (2023)
- Alexis McGrigg, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, Mississippi (2021)
Further reading
- Alexis McGrigg’s website
- Alexis McGrigg’s Instagram
- Alexis McGrigg featured artist page, Mississippi Museum of Art
Alexis Mcgrigg FAQs
What are the main themes in Alexis McGrigg’s work?
Alexis McGrigg explores Blackness, which she initially interpreted as having its foundation in the body but also being an intangible, all-encompassing entity that surrounds us all. In her later works, she realised that Blackness referenced time as well as space, and that the multidimensionality of Blackness could reference different locations and periods of existence as part of a cyclical journey. She also examines The Beloved, a third space where Black souls can exist and evolve.
What materials and techniques does Alexis McGrigg use?
Alexis McGrigg uses fibre-reactive dyes (notably Procion) in multiple layers to drench canvas and watercolour paper, resulting in unpredictable colour saturation and the appearance of figures who appear to be in a state of metamorphosis. Layers are also evident in her video art. She has said: “I follow the water and colour until the forms reveal themselves to me, and the final image is a snapshot of a transient moment in time.”
Who are Alexis McGrigg’s influences?
Visually, the variable surfaces and colour fields of abstract painter Sam Gilliam could be said to influence Alexis McGrigg’s style. Influences from other artistic fields may include the writers Octavia Butler, Malidoma Patrice Somé, Gary Zukav and writer/artist Christina Lonsdale.
Where does Alexis McGrigg live?
Alexis McGrigg lives and works in Jackson, Mississippi. She was born in Jackson in 1989 but moved to Omaha, Nebraska during her childhood, returning aged 12 to Utica, Mississippi.
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