When Meris was in the fifth grade in the Bahamas, he won a school-wide essay contest titled: “Why is your mom the greatest mom in the world?” Meris read the essay to the entire school during morning assembly. Meris's mother received a silicone Tupperware set for winning the contest. Meris remembers the look on his mom’s face and the cheap plastic bins they brought home that afternoon. From childhood to her current role as a grandmother of ten, she has always been a devoted homemaker, cleaning, cooking, caring for, and nurturing her family. Meris's mother was the first person outside of himself that he ever depicted in lifecasting; this process was both cathartic and therapeutic for Meris, who comes from a family with minimal connection to Western art, and now finds herself immortalized. If coming out is a momentous experience this work is about inviting others in.
Black Woman and child, 2023, silicone, hydrocal, and steel
Black woman and child (2023) is a recasting of Madonna Lita using silicone, both as a medical reference and a recurring sculptural motif. Black woman and child (2023) is connected to Meris’ earlier kinetic series, Now You See Me; Now You Don’t. In both of these bodies of work, the subjects are left ‘white’ referencing Liberty White Paint's slogan “if it’s optic white, it’s the right white” in Ralph Ellison’s epic novel Invisible Man harkening back to Jim Crow era idiom "if you're white, you're alright" or as was once in the Bahamas " white is right, brown stay around, black go back." Black woman and child is an intentional softening of material and technique in Meris's practice, where the work is given agency.
as to you, 2025, Yaure mask, repurposed steel, hardware, bathed pearls, 18” * 18” * 18”
as to you too, 2025, Senofu mask, repurposed steel, hardware, bathed pearls, 18” * 18” * 18”