Philece R
Artist Bio
Philece Roberts is a Bahamian artist whose work investigates memory, identity, and emotional duality through portraiture and abstraction. Centering the narratives of Black women, she renders the face as vessel and archive where identity, environment, and memory converge.
Working with graphite, paint, and organic materials such as tea stains, Roberts layers realism with nature and line as structural parallels to psychological states. Her mark-making traces shifts in presence and absence, exploring how identity is preserved and lost across personal, cultural, and ecological memory.
Roberts holds a BFA in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Atlanta. She has illustrated three books and completed commissions for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, Strathmore Artist Papers, and Essence Magazine. Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally and is held in public and private collections. She lives and works in Nassau, The Bahamas.
Artist Statement
As a portrait and figurative artist, my work is an exploration of identity, memory, and the duality of emotion. I center the experiences of Black women, using nature as both mirror and metaphor to navigate our emotional landscapes.
My practice examines who we are and who we become through cycles of change. What began as a personal response to caring for loved ones experiencing memory loss, has expanded into a broader inquiry into cognition and how memory and environment shape identity and emotional response.
Intuitive and reflective, my process merges realism in graphite and paint with the organic flow of tea stains and symbolic linework, creating a layered map of our experiences. Each piece is an act of holding on and letting go—where beauty and chaos, joy and pain, vulnerability and resilience coexist. Through shared experience, I create work that not only remembers but actively resists forgetting.
18 x 18 — Watercolor on Tea Stained Paper
The Other Side of Paradise explores the duality of people and place. The bird of paradise flower symbolizes the beauty and allure of The Bahamas and the smiles and joy seen from afar. Simultaneously the piece alludes to the unseen hardships and colonial history carried by the land and its people. It reflects the contrast between what is admired on the surface and the deeper truths that endure beneath it.
18 × 24 — Graphite on Mixed Media Paper
Speak Your Truth maps the many paths we take, emphasizing the importance of standing tall and remaining true to oneself. It celebrates authenticity, courage, and the inner strength required to honor your own voice and values on the nonlinear journey that life can take us on.
11 × 14 — Graphite, Watercolor and Acrylic on Tea Stained Paper
Finding Balance explores the layered complexities of life and the ongoing pursuit of harmony across all its facets. This piece is all about reflects challenges of navigating the interplay of responsibilities, emotions, and experiences while trying to create a centered and balanced life.
14 × 14 — Graphite on Bristol
An ode to a tradition rooted in black history and culture. Inspired by my childhood summers when I got my hair braided and beaded as a little girl. It was like a right of passage for little black girls like myself and remains a timeless expression of beauty for black women in adulthood.
18 × 24 — Graphite on Bristol
Transience explores impermanent cycle of life and the fleeting nature of existence, joy, and sorrow. It captures the beauty of moments that don't last, the grief tied to change, and the preciousness of every passing experience.
18 × 24 — Graphite on Bristol
Peace Be Still reflects the calm that emerges when we quiet the mind, heart, and spirit and trust the unfolding of life. It invites stillness amid turmoil, creating space for inner peace to take root and reveal itself even in life's most turbulent moments.