Celebrated for her figurative mixed media collages addressing themes of race, identity, and gender politics, Austin-based artist Deborah Roberts embarks on a dual artistic journey: art encompassing principles of aesthetic and social engagement. Drawing on her lived experience, Black literature, history, and popular culture, Roberts’ practice sheds light on the complexities of Black lives and engages communities in critical and urgent dialogues surrounding race. Her powerful visual vocabulary evokes empathy as a tool for connection, understanding, and unpacking histories.

Come walk in my shoes is Roberts’ first solo museum exhibition in New Mexico. It features a selection of recent mixed media figurative collages (2018-2022) exploring duality in Blackness and engaging racial stereotypes. It centers on the subject of Black boyhood in the United States and intimately shares the complex and layered experiences of Black boys, while creating and holding space for their innocence and vulnerability, allowing them to take up space, explore, and be seen.

In addition to the mixed media collages is a sculpture from her 2019 series, trumpet of consciousness. Made of wood, a metal car jack, and stacked books, trumpet of consciousness alludes to a 1960s speech by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the stack of books references the tragic story of George Junius Stinney Jr., a 14-year-old Black boy falsely accused of murdering two white girls in 1944. After a three-day trial, he was convicted and killed on death row by electrocution. Due to his size, being a child, he was unable to fit into the chair, which was then stacked with books in order to make him fit the chair—and the conviction.

Accompanying this exhibition is SITE SANTA FE’s Billboard Project, a public art initiative expanding Roberts’ exhibitions beyond the bounds of the Project Space. Through three large-scale billboards positioned on the west side of SITE SANTA FE’s building, Roberts broadens the conversation on how Black children navigate their blackness and childhood and creates a space for a more nuanced and empathetic understanding of the experience of Black children in America.

Roberts’ work invites audiences to see the world through the lens of Black children, to understand their joys, struggles, and humanity.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” - James Baldwin

Support for Come walk in my shoes is generously provided by SITE SANTA FE’s Board of Directors, the SITE SANTA FE Annual Exhibitions Fund, Elizabeth and Jamie Baskin, Suzanne Deal Booth, Kathleen and Chris Loughlin, Dana and Jim Manning, Marti Meyerson and Jamie Hooper, Stephen Friedman Gallery, and Vielmetter Los Angeles.

Come walk in my shoes is curated by Brandee Caoba and organized by Jakia Fuller, Max Holmes, and SITE SANTA FE.

Special thanks to the Exhibitions Department:

Max Holmes, Exhibitions Manager and Registrar

Hank Cooper, Exhibitions Coordinator

Jakia Fuller, Executive Associate

Preparators: Patrick Boyles, Kevin Freitas, Damon Griffith, Sabrina Griffith, Daniel Mullins, and Kody Noble