Fabiola Jean-Louis

ReWriting History is a series by Jean-Louis that sheds light on the absence of Black people in historical portraiture with antithetical scenes of reappropriated history. Consisting of photographs and sculpture, Jean-Louis makes paper dresses and accessories reminiscent of garments worn by old-world nobility then photographs her subjects wearing them. The series is confounded by the mistreatment of Black bodies over centuries of enslavement, using references such as "The Whipped Back" of Gordon that features keloid scaring replicated on the dress seen in Jean-Louis' photograph, "Madame Beauvoir's Painting." In April of 2021, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University announced the acquisition of the Rewriting History portfolio.

Jean-Louis's rise to fame began in 2014 when she started experimenting with conceptional photography by blending science, technology, art, and design with the magical, mystical, and fantastical. She used paper to recreate baroque gowns because, "As a black woman, I learned to do without, to make the best of having nothing sometimes. And fine fabric is expensive. You want to make these amazing, baroque gowns but you need to have the money for that."

Fabiola Jean-Louis (born September 10, 1978) is a Haitian artist working in photography, paper textile design, and sculpture. Her work examines the intersectionality of the Black experience, particularly that of women, to address the absence and imbalance of historical representation of African American and Afro-Caribbean people. Jean-Louis has earned residencies at the Museum of Art and Design (MAD), New York City, the Lux Art Institute, San Diego, and the Andrew Freedman Home in The Bronx. Fabiola lives and works in New York City.

Fabiola Jean-Louis was born in Port au Prince, Haiti in 1978 before relocating with her family to Harlem, New York around the age of 2. Jean-Louis is an alumna of both Fashion Industries High-school and City-As-School. She later attended Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with plans to study medicine before dropping out three months shy of graduation to pursue a career in art. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.