CLASSIC BITS

Works on wood from the archives spanning from 2003-2013. Race, the ever-evolving social construct has been a central theme throughout my oeuvre and during this period I explore the various manifestations of blackness as it relates to the human condition. This work also remarks on the sexism and misogynoir deeply ingrained into the American mainstream as well as that which exists within various foundational subcultures of the black community. It also considers the power dynamic between genders juxtaposed against those who unabashedly and openly embrace their queerness while being ostracized and shunned.

During this span of time, I observed some of the greatest strides within black, female and queer subcultures; cautiously hopeful all while expecting and commenting on the gradual backlash that has ensued. The fear that fuels homophobic perspectives within the black community, often leading to the brutal deaths of its trans and gender noncomforming members, is akin to the fear that drives unjust police interactions and white male posturing, which continues to espouse hatred and death, hacking branches off of the otherwise firmly rooted family tree of Black America. My work is as much a documentation of this as it is a commentary on the continued fight for justice against the tiki torches of inequality that are institutionalized in American society and how this can filter into the respectability politics that some blacks have used to spurn their fellows whom they have othered.