Tribute to Edmonia Lewis, 2021

Elani Scott

Elani Scott is a Bay Area artist and former Las Positas College art student. Her work often engages with the female experience and history. Below Scott explains the meaning behind Tribute to Edmonia Lewis:

This painting is an ode to the artist, Edmonia Lewis, as well as a statement on colonialism’s impact on African and Native American cultures. Lewis herself was African and Native American, and she made sculptures in the Neoclassical style.

I wanted a smoky atmosphere, correlating with her nickname “Wildfire,” as well as acting as a representation of an apocalypse. A female statue inspired by Lewis’s mythological and personal statues sits as a focal point, broken by the ruins around her.

The figure isn’t meant to be Edmonia herself, but a portrayal of her. Though the pain is very present, her strength remains despite the destruction surrounding her. Though dark, it is confrontational--I hope it is something Edmonia Lewis would’ve had an appreciation for.

Tribute to Edmonia Lewis was acquired in 2023 by the Art on Campus Task Force as part of an ongoing effort to grow the LPC art collection, with a focus on local Bay area artists and LPC student artists.