Debi Boyette

The multimedia creative works of Debi Boyette stem from an eclectic background culminated by multiculturalism, trauma, a strong sense of community, and growing up too fast. Covering themes of nostalgia and empathy, her art mirrors an everyday dystopia seen through a whimsical and airy lens. It is apparent that Boyette uses creativity as a tool to heal from tumultuous life circumstances.

Debi Boyette is a multimedia artist of American Asian and French descent based in Seattle, WA. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, she moved to Seattle in 2001 to escape the South. Her original plan was to move to New York City, but with the tragic aftermath of 9/11, Debi had to go somewhere her creativity could grow in an uplifting community. She’s been an artist since she was 4 years old. Abandoned by her mother, a mail order bride from the Philippines who had Debi at 19, to be raised by her deaf and blind father (born 1913), from ages 5 to 18, Debi says she “had to see and hear for him at a young age which made me see things a bit different from other kids my age.” The use of layers and various textures in her work coincides with this heightened-sense worldview, and recapturing a loss of childhood is common in her pieces adorned with images of blindfolded children, abstract daydreams, and fading motherly figures.

Empathy, healing, nostalgia, and touch as a dominant sensory perception are the root themes behind Debi Boyette’s oeuvre. The influence of her father’s disabilities and the empathy gained from aiding him as a small child are present in her cloud structures. These sculptures give us an insight into the aging mind. We can feel memory and a worldview contrived of touch instead of images and sound. We can touch a clouded mind, one whose thoughts and perceptions come from physical contact and are shrouded in fading memories.