Themes & Inspirations

My work explores:

• Ecology & Native Plants

• Ocean & Coastal Landscapes

• Memory & Ancestral Storytelling

• Dreams, Folklore & Symbolism

• Transformation & Resilience

• Community & Connection

• Healing, Wonder & Imagination

Influences

My creative practice is inspired by:

• Natural systems and ecosystems

• Native plants and coastal environments

• Creole and Guatemalan heritage

• Dreams and ancestral memory

• Surrealism and Art Nouveau

• Textile traditions and folklore

• Music, poetry, cinema, and storytelling

• Community arts and healing-centered creative practices

ARTIST STATEMENT

Ebony T. Perry (also known as Ebony T. Perry-Retana) is a multimedia artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores the interconnected relationships between memory, ecology, ancestry, healing, and transformation. Working across painting, photography, poetry, film, ceramics, wearable art, visual design, and embodied storytelling, she creates immersive visual narratives that invite reflection on the living connections between people, place, and the natural world.

Drawing inspiration from native plants, coastal landscapes, dreams, celestial imagery, folklore, and her Creole and Guatemalan heritage, Ebony approaches artmaking as both inquiry and ritual. Her work is guided by symbolism, intuition, and a deep curiosity about how memory lives within bodies, landscapes, and collective histories. Through layered imagery and organic forms, she explores themes of resilience, belonging, growth, and transformation.

Nature serves as both subject and collaborator within her practice. Flowers, native plants, oceanic ecosystems, shells, seeds, roots, and animal companions often emerge as recurring symbols—acting as vessels for storytelling, adaptation, remembrance, and renewal. Ebony is particularly interested in the ways ecological systems mirror human experience and how creative practice can deepen our relationship to the environments we inhabit.

At the heart of her work is a belief that art can function as a bridge: between generations, between communities, between inner and outer landscapes, and between personal and collective memory. Whether creating a painting, sculpture, film, installation, performance, or community-based project, she seeks to cultivate spaces of wonder, reflection, connection, and possibility.

Ebony's artwork has been exhibited throughout Southern California and beyond, and has been featured in artist residencies, community arts initiatives, multimedia exhibitions, educational programming, and public engagement projects. Her practice continues to evolve through an ongoing exploration of ecology, storytelling, ritual, and the transformative potential of creativity.