Ebony G. Patterson's expansive practice addresses visibility and invisibility, through explorations of class, race, gender, youth culture, pageantry and acts of violence in the context of "postcolonial" spaces. With the strong sensibility of a painter, Patterson works across multiple media - including tapestry, photography, video, sculpture, drawing and installation - united by her consistent visual language and intention. Each work is intricately embellished and densely layered, in order to draw the viewer closer and to question how we engage in the act of looking.

Ebony G. Patterson's ...when the cry takes root ..., (2020), considers gardens as a space of both beauty and burial, filled with fleeting aesthetics and mourning. Patterson sees gardens as a “postcolonial” symbol of the past that is never fully buried and barely visible.

Patterson’s works further reflect on her interest in the disenfranchised communities of today – particularly of the working class. The objects and materials, each with its own narrative, are assembled together to create a new meaning – yet there is a sense of fragility as they barely hang onto each other. Against the floral backdrop, the objects and figures on the ground-level epitomize images of death – of the bodies that have fallen to the ground. Patterson’s gardens are never far from notions of violence, of memorial, of blood and tears.

The work was commissioned by Liverpool Biennial and exhibited at Tate Liverpool as part of Liverpool Biennial 2021.