Our guest is known for her classical paintings of beautiful Black women from another era. Not servants, or slaves, nor fetishized or exoticised, her opulent portraits are redefining the women of colour in art history. With her latest work, "Queenie, the godmother of Harlem", the French-born, New York-based artist Elizabeth Colomba continues to rediscover and represent Black people erased by history. The book retraces the life of Martinican Mafia boss Stéphanie St. Clair in 1930s Harlem.
Elizabeth Colomba is in Paris for the Festival America, where "Queenie" is being presented. She speaks to Eve Jackson about her desire to centre Black women in period pieces, her fascination with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1930s and why "Queenie" was a match for Al Capone.
