In her work, the Jamaica-born mixed-media artist Ebony G. Patterson recontextualizes gender norms and explores Jamaican dancehall culture. She creates highly entrancing, colorful pieces, which are reminiscent of Kehinde Wiley’s paintings. Patterson represents the transformations of gender and body politics by blending tapestry, beading, sequins, crochet, and Internet-sourced images of violent murders. The resulting pieces seduce the viewer with mesmerizing, striking textures. “I'm hoping . . . to pull the viewer in to see further and raise questions about how we engage in the act of looking,” she has said. Patterson’s work thus elicits a civic awareness that raises the stakes for popular culture as a whole.