04/28/2025
This piece was designed to tackle political themes inspired by Norman Lewis’s AbEx painting, Alabama. I have seen his work in person during the Soul of a Nation exhibition at the de Young a few years ago and his pieces really stayed with me, so I knew I had to try it out for myself. I drew some preliminary sketches to brainstorm the best way to get the feeling across in the painting. We’ve always had to deal with the erasure of black history and a coverup of the contributions of black people, but the Tr*mp administration is blatantly trying to diminish and erase people of color in favor of white mediocrity- right in front of our faces. In my piece, I’m trying to visually tell this story of the erasure of blackness in America. With a pure black background, being circled and encompassed with stark white brushstrokes, vaguely resembling Kl*n hoods, it’s meant to create a sense of unease and anxiety. I really wanted it to feel like the whiteness is creeping in, surrounding and engulfing all of the black, threatening to swallow it whole.
