Some stories are too important to stay buried — and multidisciplinary artist Bria Edwards has made it her mission to bring one of them back to life. Through vivid, textured portraits of Black equestrian life, Edwards is reclaiming a chapter of American history that has long been overlooked, and her latest solo exhibition is generating exactly the kind of conversation that chapter deserves.
Bria Edwards’ Solo Exhibition Puts Black Equestrian History on Full Display
What We Do, We’ve Always Done — now on display at the Julio Fine Arts Gallery at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore — is an intimate examination of Black leisure as expressed through cowboy culture. The exhibition centers portraits of Black riders, their horses, and the rich traditions surrounding equestrian life in the Black community, rendered in materials that make the images feel alive and immediate.
Edwards works with heavy body paints, sawdust, and pumice gel to give her pieces a textured, almost three-dimensional quality that sets them apart from conventional portraiture.
“It’s how I make my art more vivid, like a writer would use their words, to retell these riders’ stories,” she explained.
Some pieces go even further, incorporating embroidery and rhinestones — subtle touches that reflect Black expressive culture without overwhelming the work. “I want everything to always be subtle because I want it to feel like it’s natural, just like who we are,” Edwards said.
The Conversation That Inspired the Exhibition’s Title
The exhibition’s name came directly from one of the riders Edwards encountered during her research — a cowboy named Ray Lockamy, whose answer to a simple question stopped her in her tracks. Standing before his portrait, which shows him with his horse gear draped over his shoulder, Edwards recalled the moment that gave the exhibition its name.
“We were in conversation, and I asked him what makes this cowboy culture inherently Black,” she said. “And he answered, ‘What we do, we’ve always done.’ I jotted that down because it was so beautifully said.”
That phrase encapsulates the entire spirit of the exhibition — the idea that Black cowboy culture is not a new trend or a recent rediscovery, but a continuous tradition that has always existed, with or without mainstream recognition. The photographs Edwards took of her subjects, which served as the basis for her paintings, are also featured in the gallery, adding another layer of authenticity to the project.
Reclaiming the History of Black Cowboys in America
The historical context behind this exhibition runs deep. Celebrating cowboy culture has grown increasingly prominent in the Black community over the past decade, as more people have come to understand that this way of life was built in large part by African Americans — beginning with enslaved people who were forced into roles as skilled horsemen on plantations, and continuing through generations of Black ranch hands and riders who shaped the American West.
Dr. Lauren Davidson of Museum Nectar Art Consultancy, who curated Edwards’ exhibition, put it plainly:
“This is a longstanding tradition in the Black community, but we don’t know about that. Bringing these stories to life, some of them which have been passed down through generations, is not merely a depiction, it is a reclamation of space, history, indelible joy, and heritage, reminding us that the story of this country is incomplete without the story of the Black rider.”
That framing — reclamation rather than introduction — is important. Edwards is not presenting something foreign to Black culture. She is making visible something that was always there, waiting to be seen on the terms it deserves.
How Bria Edwards Discovered the World She Now Paints
Edwards’ entry into this subject was almost accidental. As an avid photographer, she was out with friends when someone casually mentioned that one of the group rode horses and suggested she photograph him. The spontaneity of that introduction made it more compelling, not less.
“It wasn’t even something I was thinking about, but that made it even more intriguing,” she shared.
What followed was a series of discoveries that reshaped how she thought about leisure, care, and Black life. One of the things that struck her most was the time and dedication involved in preparing a horse for riding — an hour-long process before a rider even climbs into the saddle.
“That was something that really struck me because I’ve always been about leisure and what that looked like for our people,” Edwards said. “Seeing that amount of time and care for something that was outside of yourself, helped me reframe my thinking around it.”
That reframing became the artistic and intellectual engine of the entire exhibition.
Gallery Tour and What’s Next for Bria Edwards
For those who want to experience the work up close, Edwards and Dr. Davidson will host a guided gallery tour of What We Do, We’ve Always Done on March 27 at the Julio Fine Arts Gallery at Loyola University Maryland. The tour will offer visitors the opportunity to engage with the work at a deeper level, uncovering layers of detail — from the textural paint techniques to the subtle embellishments woven into individual pieces — that might not be immediately visible from a distance.
The exhibition arrives at a moment when the cultural conversation around Black cowboy and equestrian life has never been more active. From music to fashion to visual art, the Black rodeo and riding tradition is finding its way back into the mainstream — and artists like Bria Edwards are leading that charge with the kind of depth and intentionality that ensures it is not treated as a passing trend.
Ultimately, What We Do, We’ve Always Done is more than an art exhibition. It is an act of historical restoration — one portrait, one rider, and one beautifully textured canvas at a time.