Story via Arshia Simkin, The Underline, Orange County Arts Commission
For Tiffney Marley, a local Hillsborough mixed-media artist who works in photography, painting, and graphic design, art is all about community and connection. She fondly recalled the support she received from the Hillsborough Artists Cooperative when she was a burgeoning artist: “I was a momma of young twins and [one of the members], Jennifer Mills was holding one of my babies as I was painting in the studio,” she said. She credits the cooperative with fostering a welcoming and nurturing environment for a largely self-taught artist such as herself.
Tiffney Marley, photo via OCAC
Marley is a North Carolina native who attended North Carolina State University and Duke Divinity School; she’s always been passionate about social justice, and has worked for the past fourteen years for a nonprofit that seeks to empower low-income communities. Her art, too, is about appreciating different cultures and bringing awareness and empowerment. Marley noted that she is inspired by the South African concept of Ubuntu, which translates to “I am because you are.” This oneness of humanity is reflected in Marley’s artist’s statement, which notes “we are one humanity and each of us bears beautiful, Divine uniqueness and our collective well-being is tied to our connections to each other.”
“Ethnic Fusion” By Tiffney | Fine Art Poster | Chang Family 2022
Recently, she and fellow artist, Audrey Pinto, lead a art-making experience creating African paper dolls for a First Fridays event at the Eno Arts Mill. Marley said she loves events like these because “everyone gets to participate” and she values “building and fostering belonging and promoting a sense of dignity in others.” For Marley, art is a way of “inviting people to be their full human selves.” Marley recalled a father and son at the event who, after being encouraged to explore and play with the concept, made action figures out of the dolls. For Marley, sharing her work is about inviting people “who maybe don’t even regard themselves as artists to be open to the possibilities,” she said.
African paper dolls by Tiffney Marley
Marley first became interested in art through her passion for social justice: from the time she was a young adult, she was interested in volunteering overseas and, as a result, she traveled to many different places in the world. She loved documenting what she saw through photographs, listening to people’s stories, and evolving into a person “who really loved and appreciated the artistic expression of different cultures,” she said. Throughout her travels, Marley has always admired how in many cultures, art is democratized: “everybody is considered to be an artist—even little kids,” Marley said.
Tiffney Marley, photo via OCAC
Marley recalls the serendipitous way in which she first became interested in painting: “I was having an awful, terrible, no-good day and I had been intending to take that art class that I had never taken [so I just] started to paint.” When she looked back over what she had painted, she was surprised and delighted to find that her bad mood had dissipated and that she was proud of the creativity she had displayed on the canvas.
Part of Marley’s “My People” series.
Marley was inspired by her travels to do an acrylic series titled the “My People” series, which paid homage to the Masai people of Kenya and used the vibrant colors they favor. Marley loved seeing the connections that people made with the artwork, regardless of their own backgrounds. For example, she recalls a Jewish man who said that the work reminded him of rabbis in their robes and tassels. That series in particular, and art in general, has reinforced Marley’s belief that “ultimately there are more things that connect us as human beings than that divide us,” Marley said.
Learn more about Tiffney at https://artsorange.org/enomill/eno-mill-studio-artists/ or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/tiffneymarley/ and visit her studio at the Eno Arts Mill during First Fridays at the Mill.
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