“Like the dead- seeming cold rocks, I have memories within that came out of the material that went to make me.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston 

My work documents transition, explores healing, memory, ritual and ceremonial rites of passage. I’m interested in the intersection between the physical and the spiritual, as well as the transitional space between birth and death. 

Each medium I use is its own language. Working in photography, performance, installation, video, fibers, mixed media, and painting allows me to create narrative works that evolve over time. My work can span many years. Each body of work that I create is interconnected. Often materials or residual elements of one work—for example, ashes from a fire, hair, or soil—will find new life in another piece years later. 

My work explores shifting genetic expression and building new neural networks in the brain  

(neuroplasticity); thereby actively participating in epigenetics. Through the work I explore inherited and learned restorative healing practices as seeds of longevity, acts of protection and catharsis; as well as self, family, community and cultural preservation. 

My grandfather, also an interdisciplinary artist, has a deep impact on my art practice —his fingerprint is in this work. My mother’s writing, my grandmother’s sewing, my great grandmother’s skill in quilting and my great great grandmothers practice of herbalism have all found manifestation in my work. 

Artist Bio

Phylicia Ghee is an interdisciplinary visual artist, photographer and curator. Ghee’s artwork documents transition, explores healing, memory, ritual, ceremony & personal rites-of-passage. She is interested in the intersection between the physical and the spiritual. Taught by her Grandfather at an early age; Ghee works in photography, performance, video, fibers, mixed media, installation & painting. She earned her BFA in Photography with a Concentration in Curatorial Studies from Maryland Institute College of Art in 2010.  

Ghee has exhibited her work at The Baltimore Museum of Art, Galerie Myrtis, The Egyptian Embassy, The Margulies Warehouse (Miami, FL), Studio Art Centers International (Florence, Italy) and The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, where she was commissioned to make work for the private collection.    

Most recently, Ghee completed a 3-month artist residency at The Nicholson Project in Southeast, D.C., which culminated with an immersive, multi-sensory solo exhibition, on view through January 2023. Ghee has exhibited and performed at NYU, Art on the Vine (Martha’s Vineyard), Young Collectors Contemporary (Memphis, TN), The Banneker Douglass Museum, The Walters Art Museum as 2019 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Finalist, Fridman Gallery (NY, 2020 Virtual Exhibition) and The African American Museum (Philadelphia, PA). Ghee was also named 2020 Baker Artist Award Finalist, 2020 Pratt>FORWARD Fellow  

(Mickalene Thomas & Jane South) and 2020 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Finalist. Ghee has taught workshops and held day-long retreats in Baltimore, MD, New Orleans, LA and Ibadan, Nigeria. Ghee is a certified yoga nidra (yogic sleep) facilitator and she is in apprenticeship to become a clinical herbalist. She received recognition from Maryland’s First Lady Yumi Hogan & the Maryland Behavioral Health Administration for her art and activism in raising awareness on issues surrounding mental health, behavioral health and substance use disorder.  

In addition to her art practice, Ghee has worked as a professional photographer for over 15 years. She is the first Black Woman and only one of 21 photographers in American history to work as Official Photographer for the U.S. Capitol, House of Representatives. 

Phylicia Ghee, Grandma; I am accused of tending to the past, Portrait of the artist’s Grandmother, 2020, Archival pigment on Photo Rag Paper, 24” x 40” 

Phylicia Ghee, Still from The Site of Memory, 2020, Single channel Video, 18:46 

Phylicia Ghee, Still from The Site of Memory, 2020, Single channel Video, 18:46