SKIN DEEP (6)
By:
October 17, 2026
One in a series of posts profiling the artists of the Black Cherry Lane: Presence exhibition, which honors the ancestors and descendants of Cherry Lane Cemetery, a burial ground for free and formerly-enslaved people which is now itself buried under a parking lot, and which the artists are imagining a new life and legacy for.
SKIN DEEP: INTRODUCTION by Adam McGovern | JEROME LAGARRIGUE | MARY EDWARDS | BEVERLY Y. SMITH | TIM OKAMURA | THOMAS DOYLE | YELENA TYLKINA | TAHA CLAYTON | GREG SHEA | LAZARUS NAZARIO
Yelena Tylkina thinks in murals, her inspiration stirring in the sweep of our image-saturated age, the symphony of our polyglot society, the fertile crossroads of culture in her own immigrant odyssey from Belarus, and her life in the international nexus of Queens, NY. Epics of interior intricacy, they map the collage of thought, and communicate (perhaps even collaborate) directly with the observer’s mind.
Her reflections on the personal and collective history of the former Cherry Lane community — from the famed ancestor, coach driver, 1812 veteran, and centenarian who was born into enslavement and outlived it, Benjamin Prine; to the livelihood of oyster-farming that was essential to Staten Island and drew many African Americans there from the South; to archetypal figures of the indomitable African and American spirit — could not be contained to a single image, or to anything but an abundance of expression and association within each one, for the triptych she contributed to the Black Cherry Lane: Presence exhibition, Cherry Lane Trinity (Oysterman & the Nightingale, Benjamin Prine, and Black Queen). I spoke with her about these visions’ journey from the historical record, through her mind, and out into a world still being imagined:
HILOBROW: Could you describe what your thought process was between finding out about the issues involved, and how that expressed itself and took form in your mind as imagery?
TYLKINA: I saw some material with photographs, especially the photograph of Benjamin Prine. When I looked at his photograph I began to see pictures in my head. And that’s it, I could not stop drawing; I think his spirit talked to me, and I depicted whatever I saw in my head on paper. My guidance was by Benjamin Prine, I feel he is alive, and afterward I thought it’s not fair to only talk about him so let’s expand a little bit.
HILOBROW: You may have anticipated my next question, which was, how did your mind’s eye call a halt to things and say, “okay, that’s one picture, this is the next picture”, but you may have answered that in terms of how your inner attention turned from Prine to other aspects of the issue…
TYLKINA: What I remember from the [story] of the place, I remember that people [harvested] oysters, so I thought we need to depict that; and because I’m always on the side of women and I know that they always suffer more in any circumstance, I wanted to have a picture of a woman with a child, but in my own way, and as you see, it is a chess [piece] because any situation in life is a game, and women need to be very smart, to know many moves ahead to survive and raise the next generation.
HILOBROW: Is there a reason that you chose ink rather than paint in this case?
TYLKINA: I always start with drawings, because that organizes my thought. And to do a painting of such complex design would take a long time, and [drawing] was a bit more natural flow.
HILOBROW: I love that it came out as linework, since it’s such a contrast with the spectrum of other styles the show ended up with. And I loved being able to see monumental-sized drawings of yours, because people are so much more used to viewing your full-scale paintings; it’s great to see the even more direct imprint of your psyche as it transfers to these pages.
TYLKINA: Also, you can feel improvisation, because I just let it flow from me; the energy of the people who are buried there, so I just opened up [to it], and I want people to feel that. Because painting sometimes takes more of my personality, than the spirits’ personality.
[Keep watching this space for profiles of all the creators contributing to Black Cherry Lane: Presence, and if you’re anywhere near Staten Island between October 1 and 25, come see what they have to reveal for yourself!]