André Ramos-Woodard

This is my dad. He is one of the most inspiring, hilarious, genuine, stoic, hard-working, stubborn, lovable, and perseverant people in my entire life.

He’s a protector.

Once when I was little (prolly around 11), my parents took my siblings and I to get some ICEEs. Long story short, we made a little mess, but we were very respectful kids. We would always clean up our mess, or if it was something that required more than what was available to use at the time, we knew to get an employee.

Well, that happened. We got an employee after spilling a little (AND I MEAN A LITTLE) on the ground, who apparently very reluctantly cleaned up our mistake. We paid and left. Our dad noticed we’d been short changed, and went back inside to correct what he assumed was a common mistake. I went with him.

He was appalled to find out that the cashier had added some sort of “cleaning fee” onto our gas station slushies and refused to refund him at first. I didn’t know what was going on at the time, and I was way too young to see that a white woman thought she had the right to take money from some little Black kids for no reason other than discrimination .  Now normally I’m not a fan of arguing with retail employees , but thank God my dad went off on her and got our money back.

After that, my dad and I had my first conversation about race. About being a nigga.

Shout out to my Dad.

Raised in the Southern states of Tennessee and Texas, André Ramos-Woodard (they/ them/ theirs) is a contemporary artist who uses their work to emphasize the experiences of the underrepresented: celebrating the experience of marginalized peoples while accenting the repercussions of contemporary and historical discrimination.

 

Working in a variety of media—including photography, text, and illustration—Ramos-Woodard creates collages that convey ideas of communal and personal identity centralized within internal conflicts. They are influenced by their direct experience with life as being queer and African American, both of which are obvious targets for discrimination. Focusing on Black liberation, queer justice, and the reality of mental health, Ramos-Woodard works to amplify repressed voices and bring power to the people. Ramos-Woodard received their BFA from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and is earning their MFA at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.