Tawny Chatmon

Tawny Chatmon (born 1979) is an American photographic artist known for her portraits of Black children overlaid with gold leaf and paint.

Colossal, a website of contemporary art, noted that Chatmon's use of overlapping layers of paint and 24-karat gold leaf, along with semi-precious stones, glass, and other mixed media, draws influences from artist Gustav Klimt and Byzantine masterpieces.

[4] She also introduces symbols such as such as circles, birds and suns and upside-down hearts, found on the graves of the last known ship carrying enslaved people to arrive in the United States.

"[6] "Her work, a mixture of painting and portraiture, is a regal reflection of Blackness," wrote Boston Globe culture columnist Jeneé Osterheldt.

[10] That exhibit highlighted works from her series "Redemption," featuring photographs of young Black girls with a variety of hairstyles—braids, curls, knots—and 24-karat gold paint.