Jasmine Graham was a Detroit ’90s baby. Growing up in the Motor City, she rode a wave of positive Black women across primetime television, at home, across the street, and in Detroit history. Recognizing that many of us — even some of the fictional characters — do not receive the recognition we deserve, Graham’s Women’s History Month exhibit, Woman in the Garden, was designed to give credit where it’s due. In a month of artistry, self-care and sisterhood at Irwin House Gallery, Graham has both given and received her flowers.
Graham describes herself as a “broadcast journalist by trade and an artist by heart.” Her creative practice encompasses writing, publishing, photography, video, collage, installation, and any other medium that speaks to her. She merges these art forms to tell stories drenched in truth, color, and complexity, often focusing on the underrepresented, always sharing the light with other creatives, and leaning into nature as a creative collaborator.
Since 2019, Graham has exhibited, curated concepts around her work, published, and served as a journalist for major media platforms, including her own. When offered the opportunity to pull programming together for Women’s History Month, she was buoyed and ready for the undertaking.
Woman in the Garden, an artist showcase which opened at the beginning of March, has been curated by Graham and features her signature collage-work, photography, and installations, while also making space for five invited artists — Dajaneire Rice, Jackie Jones, Bree Sinclair, Ivanna Espy, and Stephanie Blair Watts. Programming throughout the month has invited the public to engage in an artist talk, independent art-making, and movement sessions with Coach Ty. Additionally, in an afternoon program Graham called Rooted in Wellness, guests got to experience hand-crafted products and treatments purveyed by local makers, including Boho/Bohemian Nails and Esthi Queen, the aesthetician.
Graham’s floral collages
Staged across the gallery’s two floors, the exhibition prominently underlines Graham’s collages, which are made from vintage and contemporary magazine cut-outs of celebrity and historical figures, most often reimagined in luxurious interiors or a mixture of magical floral and urban landscapes. The compositions pay homage to unsung women in history such as Florence Ballard, Claudette Colvin, Donyale Lune and The Clark Sisters, with other works highlighting ’90s media characters and the actors who portrayed them including Brandi, Countess Vaughan, the cast from “Girlfriends” and, last but not least, Jasmine Guy — after whom Graham’s mother named her. A number of Graham’s works star her friends and contemporaries. Using her own photographs, she highlights the fierce individuality, beauty, and resilience of the extraordinary girls in her circle.
Reimagining what giving flowers means
As Graham came of age as an artsy Detroit schoolgirl blossoming into a stunning young woman, these are some of the ladies, from real life and the airwaves, who helped shape her identity and creativity in a city of remarkable style and grace. “This exhibition reimagines what it means to give women their flowers, not just as a gesture of gratitude but as an act of visibility and recognition,” Graham wrote in her curatorial statement.
Flowers have been supporting actors in Graham’s work since the beginning. Placing her first cut-out figure in a lush plant landscape around 2021, the Woman in the Garden took flight. The concept evolved into a photo and poetry book — A Letter to the Land — and continues to give birth to works that marry individuals and nature. “I feel that nature is a way that we are able to experience ourselves, and experience God in the making,” Graham shared at the exhibition’s opening. The flower wall that she painstakingly created from scratch, served as a beautiful backdrop and textural mural for the exhibit. It is a testimony for how large the artist’s love looms for blossoms.
Dajaneire Rice is a multidisciplinary artist from Inkster, Mich., using art as a gateway to address issues of women’s mental health and wellness. Jackie Jones, a Detroit-based queer artist, creates mixed-media paintings that share her spiritual and physical rebirths, griefs, and joys. And, Bree Sinclair, a tattoo artist, contributed fine art reproductions from Women of Hues — her series of vivacious watercolor reconstructions of the feminine form. Graham credits Sinclair, who staged exhibits of her work early on, with giving her the courage to fully embrace her own artistry. All of these young women have inspired and supported each other in spaces that don’t always welcome and encourage them as women artists. Sharing this stage with them has become just one way that Graham gives her flowers, receiving all the admiration that she deserves in return.
At the beginning of Women’s History Month, Graham set out to offer a space for reflection, celebration, and connection; a place to honor women who shape our world, and a month of activities celebrating women, art, and wellness. Mission accomplished.
