We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pam Douglas. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pam below.

Hi Pam, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Probably when people think about my work, they recall the Sanctuary installation that encompassed 4,000 square feet in 2021 after three years of development. Entering that show, a visitor was met by symbolic rafts that escaped across the gallery floor from a 40-foot abstract rubble-scape. Each hand-crafted “raft” carried figures in charcoal and clay. Next, the visitor passed the wall-hung panels – often women with children walking to safety – drawn in charcoal on raw linen with re-used burlap and found objects. Finally, a visitor reached the third part of Sanctuary – figures in symbolic hand-made tents, suggesting hope. 

I love using battered coffee bean sacks that I rip apart. By re-purposing objects, I incorporate an environmentally conscious approach that underscores the theme of “Sanctuary”: everyone and everything has value. 

After Sanctuary, I created a graphic novel, “Bearing Witness,” and a series of paintings based on the book. In 2023, I created 12 “Witness” sculptures, echoing 12 in a jury, 12 apostles, and the passage of time.

Now I’m seeking a grant to create a sculptural “altar” titled “Welcome” that will be the final crowning component.

Taken together, all these art forms honoring refugees comprise a body of work that is meaningful to me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a Los Angeles mixed media artist who creates sculpture, painting and installations that continue my dedication to humanitarian issues. I want people to connect with my work, including those who are not artists, because I care about encouraging insight and empathy. My work has been exhibited in museums and galleries including the California African American Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles Art Show, and USC Fisher Museum of Art. And I’ve been recognized with some grants and awards such as the Puffin Foundation, Mozaik Philanthropy, Vibrant Cities, Repaint History, The Next Big Thing, and others. But I was even more delighted when my 12 life-size “Witness” sculptures (from the Bearing Witness series) were displayed outdoors at Tarfest last June, where people interacted with them who might not step inside a gallery. I felt the same way with my large installation of sculptures and wall-hangings that were greeted by immense crowds at CA 101 in August. I feel grateful my work has been able to reach out. And I’m in the thick of creating so much more. 

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

For the past 8 years, my artwork has responded to the political, social and emotional experiences of refugees forced from their homes because of violence and climate change. The Sanctuary project, my Bearing Witness paintings, and Witness sculptures express the many journeys of refugees through a mixture of drawing, painting, sculpture, assemblage, and installation. My work is mostly figurative, but also includes abstract elements, plant parts and found objects, aiming at a kind of expressionistic naturalism.

I grew up in New York City, close to my immigrant grandmother, who was not able to read in any language. From a different side of my family, an African American elder told stories of his father, who was run out of Alabama by the KKK, and kept going until he reached Chicago. These traumas passed down through generations, the feeling of being forced to flee, a stranger in a strange land, informs my art today.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Right now, I have two major projects that will each take at least a year to complete. That’s frustrating because I’d like to stay on the artworld radar, but I also respect the fullness of the installations I’m planning, and hesitate to exhibit fragments, though I might start doing that, maybe this fall.

One project is a sculptural installation titled “Welcome” that continues my commitment to refugee issues. It’s a single free-standing “altar” and is awaiting a grant.

The work that now occupies me every day came as a surprise. My daughter, Raya Yarbrough, who is an accomplished musician and poet, invited me to collaborate with her on visual expressions of some of her poems, together with musical performance. I’ve never collaborated with anyone, so this is a fresh adventure. Most of our mutual creations deal with issues I’ve cared about all along and add a spiritual outlook. The one I’m painting today has six panels, one for each stanza of a poem that are each 6 ft high and 3 ft wide. They will be displayed in a semi-circle on free-standing room dividers, so visitors walk within the poem. Other multi-panel pieces will display other ways to maximize “inhabiting” the poem’s space. This one is kind of a love poem, a subject I’ve never done. So, I’m growing into work that’s new to me.
Contact Info:

• Website: https://pamdouglasart.com
• Instagram: @pamdouglasart
• Facebook: PamDouglasArt

Image Credits
photo of Pam at CA101 by Sheli Sliverio All other photos by LA Art Documents