In a sunlit gallery in historically Black East Austin, larger-than-life community leaders peer through vibrant canvas windows. Masterfully captured by self-taught painter Angélique Ferrão, the Black men featured in Ferrão’s inaugural art exhibit “Vis-à-Vis” invite you to meet them face-to-face.
Loosely translated, vis-à-vis describes relational context – face-to-face meeting, or relevance to something or someone. Ferrão’s large-format oil portraits range in height from 4 to 5.5 feet tall, bringing viewers up close and personal within the modest Cloud Tree Studios gallery space. Smaller charcoal studies line the entryway, offering perspective into the artist’s creative journey.
“I always paint big,” says Ferrão, a former muralist whose work has adorned myriad Downtown walls. “I feel very free and very confident when I work large.”
“I’m not from this country so I don’t have that way of thinking, but I learned … some people see a Black man as a potential threat,” she explains. “But I wanted these men to take up space with their body, their energy. There’s no way you can interpret any of these portraits as hostile. This juxtaposition of taking up space in a small room – larger-than-life, but not threatening – that was very intentional.”
The men of “Vis-à-Vis” represent a broad swath of Austin talent, including musicians, artists, educators, and financial leaders. Some gaze directly through the canvas at the viewer while others gaze into the distance, frozen in a moment of introspective thought.
The series evolved from unexpected origins: a corporate HR meeting in the immediate wake of George Floyd’s Minneapolis murder in 2020. Ferrão, who worked for a financial services firm at the time, attended a race-relations panel hosted by her colleague, Lukas Smart, who shared his experience growing up Black in the United States. Deeply moved by Smart’s openness and vulnerability while struggling with feelings of powerlessness, Ferrão reached out afterward to ask if she could paint his portrait.
A South Asian artist who arrived in Austin by way of New York City and Bangalore, India, Ferrão’s experiences as an immigrant had made her feel “powerless for a very long time,” especially in the face of recent politics. After attending Smart’s talk, Ferrão felt drawn to portray his courage through her portraiture, saying, “I don’t have a lot of power, but I have my brush.”
That initial portrait morphed into a series as Ferrão began reaching out to others throughout the Austin community, pushing through feelings of hesitation because she wanted to do the subject matter justice.
“I know how to paint,” says Ferrão, who found her way to oil painting by way of watercolors and acrylics. Completely self-taught, she developed her technique through trial and error, leaning heavily into curiosity and intuition to guide her through the creative process. “I’m very confident in my work. But I didn’t know the ‘right way’ to approach the project with respect.”
“I wanted these men to take up space.”
Angélique Ferrão
The journey to “Vis-à-Vis” made Ferrão grow as a person “because I had to do a lot of research, have conversations with these gentlemen,” she said. “They didn’t know me, didn’t know what my intentions were, so I was very nervous. But they were very supportive and gracious.”
“I was immediately enthralled by the idea of this woman who is not Black deciding she wants to render Black men positively, to place us in a space where we’re often not placed,” says Ya’Ke Smith, a University of Texas Radio, Television, and Film professor whose portrait sits to the right of the exhibit didactic. “She’s speaking truth to power, debunking stereotypes, rewriting a narrative that has been portrayed since time immemorial. Any artist that wants to add to the [positive] archive and conversation – we need this work out in the world, and this needs to be championed.”
“Representation really matters,” Smart says of the project. Seeing Black men in a position of honor and prominence in “Vis-à-Vis” “has been a good example” for his teenage sons, who knew that the series began after their father spoke up about his life experiences at work. “I was proud of myself, of Angelique, proud of the other people who were there.”
Each painting originated from two of Ferrão’s other artistic strengths: photography and connection. After initial contact, Ferrão typically met with her subjects to build rapport before photographing them from several angles, always from a lower perspective angling upward – a subtle but intentional composition that elevated them to a vantage point of power. Finally, each man chose their favorite image for her reference, taking ownership over their final portrayal.
“I was very conscious of the colors I chose for each portrait,” Ferrão says of her saturated palette for the series. “Sometimes art featuring Black subjects subconsciously reflects so much collective trauma in history through earthy, muted tones. I didn’t want that historical trauma attached to my paintings, and it was easier for me to do that because I’m not Black. These men are contemporary, they’re modern, they belong here, and these colors reflect how I see them.”
One of the subjects is Chris Rogers, a longtime muralist whose iconic work featuring themes of racial equity can be seen on various city landmarks throughout Downtown Austin – such as We Rise, at the intersection of 12th and Chicon streets. While Rogers’ own paintings typically feature rich, moody tones like black, aquamarine, and purple, Ferrão’s portrait of him is drenched in sunny yellows and bright pinks, drawing one’s eye amid a series bursting with effervescent color.
“Angélique really captured the mood of our conversation that day,” Rogers says of his portrait’s divergence from his personal palette. “Colors and vibrations are just like anything else – they have a life of their own, no different than a musician picking certain chords. The day we took these pictures, there was not a cloud in the sky; it was full of sun. She really captured me, and her painting perfectly aligned with our conversation.”
“She’s speaking truth to power, debunking stereotypes, rewriting a narrative that has been portrayed since time immemorial.”
Ya’Ke Smith, one of 10 influential black austinites painted in “Vis-à-Vis”
Ferrão’s portrait inspired Smith to see himself in a different light. Ya’Ke means “son of God, great warrior” in Swahili, and Smith has a tattoo of the word “anointed” behind his right ear that symbolizes his commitment to his life’s work.
“I’m anointed to make big films,” Smith says. “To see a part of me I don’t often get to see right in front of me, it’s a reminder of what I do and why I do it. She’s also capturing other parts of me that I don’t see: That inner warrior that exists in me, the artist that lives in me, the light that radiates off of me. She found those things that live inside of me and was able to put them on canvas.”
“I never thought I was the kind of person who would have anything like this happen,” says artist/musician Mike Melinoe. He stopped by to see his portrait in the gallery on a sunny weekday afternoon with his 5-year-old son, Jayce. Jayce alternated between looking up at Mike’s likeness and sprinting back-and-forth through the gallery, squealing, “I like the paintings!”
“I’m just a tame version of what Jayce feels,” Melinoe admits. “For him to see this [exhibit], allowing him to see the reality of my life, that anything is possible – I have so much gratitude. I’m just happy I can share this moment with him.”
