Odessa Whitlock x Academy St. Thrift
- Academy St. Thrift
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
A living archive of memory, material, and love
“Deep down, we all desire to be remembered. How would you ask to be honored? What tools would you use?”
This is where Odessa Whitlock begins.
Odessa Whitlock (they/them) is a queer Antiguan-American textile and fiber artist, illustrator, and emerging filmmaker whose work centers on preservation through material. In the accompanying artist document, they describe their practice as one rooted in “cultural preservation of found textile and fiber,” using reclaimed fabrics, worn clothing, and braiding hair collected from their own life and community. Odessa says that when they “sculpt these fragmented pieces together,” they are honoring “the history and energy of the people who wore them, the seasons they’ve lived through, and the textures of home.” This intention is not abstract. It is something you can feel the moment you encounter the work.
Why this work lives here
At Academy St. Thrift, we think deeply about where things come from. Clothing is not just clothing. It carries labor, memory, and lived experience. Similarly, Odessa’s work moves in that same direction. It takes materials that have already existed in someone’s life and refuses to let them be forgotten. Instead, they are reworked into something that asks to be seen with care. Odessa describes art as “a visual archive… that holds space for the stories and voices often pushed to the margins of history.” These sentiment are at home here.
At Academy St. Thrift (855 Bloomfield Ave. Glen Ridge, New Jersey), we are currently holding two of Odessa’s pieces in the shop. Each one carries its own presence, but together they create a quiet conversation about love, memory, and joy.
“I’m Honored to Adore You” (2024)
Materials: Headscarves, cotton, lace sequenced fabric, and braiding hair on canvas.
Dimensions: 55 x 55 inches.
Price: $3,750
This piece holds you. There is a closeness in the figures that feels almost private. The use of headscarves and lace brings a softness, while the scale of the work allows that softness to expand outward. The braiding hair moves through the composition in a way that feels intentional, almost like a thread connecting bodies, histories, and care practices.
It is a work about love, but not in a surface-level way. It feels rooted. It feels lived.
“Black Joy is Timeless” (2024)
Materials: Corduroy, sheer fabric, lace, stretch fabric, cotton, and braiding hair.
Dimensions: 15 x 30 inches.
Price: $2,750
This piece carries a different energy. Where the first work leans into intimacy, this one holds presence. There is a steadiness to it. The textures feel grounded. The composition feels assured.
The title does not overstate what the work is doing. It simply affirms it. Joy here is not fleeting. It is held, layered, and made visible.
What you’ll experience
There is a difference between viewing this work and standing in front of it.
At a distance, the color draws you in. Up close, the materials begin to reveal themselves. Threads, fabrics, and textures layered instead of flattened. The figures are not just painted. They are built.
You begin to notice what each material is doing. What it might have been before. Who it might have belonged to. Because of this, the work does not feel distant. It feels close. Almost personal.
A shared language
This collaboration is not about placement. It is about alignment.
Both Odessa’s work and Academy St. Thrift are rooted in the belief that materials matter. That what we wear, keep, pass down, or discard holds meaning.
Here, those materials are given another life.
These pieces sit in the shop as both artwork and reminder. That nothing we touch is without history. That memory lives in fabric. That care can be felt, even years later.
An invitation
If you find yourself in the shop, take your time.
Look closely. Then step back. Then look again.
Spend time with the work, and if you feel called to, read through the artist’s document alongside it. It offers another layer of context, one that deepens what you are already experiencing in the space.
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