When Mayor Rudy Giuliani riled against an exhibit which featured the profile of a nude female seated at a table reflective of the Christian interpretation of The Last Supper, the entire city of New York took a position for or against the interpretive work displayed at the Brooklyn Museum.

Firing off a diatribe at photographer Renee Cox, the mayor helped to promote the work of the talented artist he reviled as a disrespectful, anti-Roman Catholic and untalented artist.New Yorkers said otherwise.

Showing defiance to the seemingly dictatorial number one citizen, and perhaps curious of the art, patrons sold out the entire viewing dates by lining up for hours in order to support the Caribbean woman, photographer, and New York resident.

The daily tabloids feasted on Cox’s Last Supper taking sides in the controversy. Cox never shied away from the venom and praise. Instead she boasted her commitment to her craft, flaunted her talent and responded with grace.Since the exhibition closed, Cox has been working to refine her already unique work. Challenging a series on the Maroons in Jamaica, the last two years has yielded the Nanny Project.

“For over eight years I’ve had an interest in capturing the true essence of Jamaica, and as I was born there I’ve always been drawn back to a place that already sets the beat of my heart,” Cox said.

The portrait series has taken two years to shoot. She explained that it is love for her heritage which affords her the investment in time she carved out to perfect the compilation of classic photographs.

Cox plans to showcase her work in an exhibition which is bound to celebrate Black womanhood. Already noted for hosting five solo exhibitions, Cox’s work has also been featured in 15 group exhibitions.

Her work has been received in some of the more prestigious galleries and museum throughout the United States and Europe.

The Brooklyn Museum’s showcase may have promoted Cox’s name as a feminist, activist and propagandist for the gender. However, exhibits in the Smithsonian and Whitney Museum certainly expand her notoriety as a talented artist.

Born in Colgate, Jamaica, Cox and her family moved here, settling in Scarsdale. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts. She also participated in an independent study program at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art.

Cox is the recipient of many grants and fellowships, among them the Artists Fellowships Award from the New Foundation for the Arts, the McDowell Colony Fellowship and the Artists-in-Residence program in Syracuse, New York.

Cox is an adjunct professor of photography at New York University.
This month when the contribution of women is being lauded, Cox emerges as a proud, achieving, Jamaican woman.