Wes by Samrawit Cavallaro

Samrawit Cavallaro, born in Ethiopia and adopted by a Vermont couple with two siblings, discovered her love for painting at The Buxton School in Williamstown, MA. She pursued her passion, earning a BA in painting and black studies at Bennington College. Emerging from the realities of transracial and transnational adoption, painting has served as a therapeutic outlet for Samrawit to explore ideas and feelings surrounding identity and belonging and what those topics mean for those who have experienced a severing of cultural markers such as birthdate, birthplace, language, genealogy, citizenship status, and cultural rituals. Though her work still draws on similar themes, Samrawit has shifted focus in recent years. With the continued implementation of vivid colors, broad and confident brush strokes, and an almost collage-like composition, her current artistic practice in painting seeks to celebrate and liberate the Black form. Her work aims to transcend beyond the constructs of the observable world that strive to mutilate and control Black expression. Diving deep into her emotional landscape, she allows her paintbrush to become a conduit for her soul’s most profound truths. She interacts with the entire spectrum of her emotions—not only the easily digestible parts but often the scary, unappealing, and contradictory ones, too.