A layered critique of how Black identity is perceived, flattened, and racialized—suggesting that no matter what a Black person feels, expresses, or accomplishes, the world will, first and foremost, insist on seeing them through the lens of Blackness, too often in ways that are darker, heavier, and clearly more distorted than reality.
The world rarely allows Black Women to simply be women in the moment. The painting and title together are meant to convey that even when we present ourselves in a way that is soft, elegant, or emotionally complex, the world insists on seeing us as ‘Black’ first, humanity second, and more intensely than we see ourselves. The background also ‘racializes’ the subject as the black and white geometric patterns can be viewed as society’s frameworks, the boxes we are placed in, and the monochrome lens through which we are viewed.
Original Work: acrylic under epoxy on 30x40 gallery wrap canvas
A layered critique of how Black identity is perceived, flattened, and racialized—suggesting that no matter what a Black person feels, expresses, or accomplishes, the world will, first and foremost, insist on seeing them through the lens of Blackness, too often in ways that are darker, heavier, and clearly more distorted than reality.
The world rarely allows Black Women to simply be women in the moment. The painting and title together are meant to convey that even when we present ourselves in a way that is soft, elegant, or emotionally complex, the world insists on seeing us as ‘Black’ first, humanity second, and more intensely than we see ourselves. The background also ‘racializes’ the subject as the black and white geometric patterns can be viewed as society’s frameworks, the boxes we are placed in, and the monochrome lens through which we are viewed.
Original Work: acrylic under epoxy on 30x40 gallery wrap canvas