Retracing the Ride by Land and Air, 2019
Mixed media on canvas
36” x 36”
In memory and honor of the original CORE Freedom Ride of 1961, whose planned route from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans, Louisiana was met with such a high degree of hostility, violence, and arrests that the course of travel shifted from land to air, due to the intervention of the U.S. Justice Department.
Hierbas en el Jardin, 2018
Acrylic on wood panel
49” x 49”
They call it, “The Shooting Side”, 2016
Acrylic, burlap, cement, parchment tracing paper, stretch wrap, thread on canvas
48” x 61.5” x 2”
They Call it, “The Shooting Side” is a contemplation on the local color line divide and a reaction to the disparagingly descriptive words that non-native predominantly white transplants regularly remark, when referring to the crossing of the neutral ground, from one side to the other, in the New Orleans St. Claude neighborhood.
The Inversion of White Flight, 2016
Latex house paint, American flag packaging tape on found cardboard moving boxes from the New Orleans St. Claude neighborhood
12’ x 6 ’x 2.5’
Waves of Flight, 2016
Acrylic, latex house paint, screen mesh, steel wire, found terracotta sculpture on wood panel in artists frame
49.5” x 34.5” x 6”
Waves of Flight calls into question the historical relevance of patterns involving government supported segregation, migration and displacement and how this narrative has shaped and ensued incessant underlying causes of racial tensions.
Root Shock in the Big Four Land Grab, 2016
Brick, cardboard, cement, screen mesh on wood panel in artists frame
30" x 50" x 4"
In her book Root Shock: How Tearing Up City Neighborhoods Hurts America and What We Can Do About It, Dr. Mindy Fullilove introduces the concept of “Root Shock”. The term, “root shock” is the traumatic stress reaction to the loss of some, or all of one’s emotional ecosystem. It can follow natural disaster; development-induced displacement and changes that play out slowly such as those that accompany gentrification. Root Shock in the Big Four Land Grab is the contemplation on New Orleans Big Four (B.W. Cooper, C.J. Peete, Lafitte and St. Bernard) public housing demolitions and the catastrophic impacts that are a result of the redevelopment policies of the state and federal government and private developers.
Transient, 2016
Acrylic, colored pencil on board in artists frame
32 ” x 32” x 1”
Transient is a consideration of the romanticized view of travel by trains and the history of the railroads, specifically the circumstances and conditions faced by those who experienced the transient way of life while riding the rails during the Great Depression.
Accounts of an Old Sound, 2015
Music sheets, book pages, gel medium, found wood blocks, found screen mesh, found metal in found window frame
34” x 32” x 2.5”
Accounts of an Old Sound is inspired by Kevin Fox Gotham’s book, Authentic New Orleans interpretation of the way in which the city government and tourism industry in New Orleans is exploiting its people by projecting and promoting perceived iconic images of authentic representations of their history and culture. Much like an abacus, this strategic method of branding is a tool for a calculated campaign that aims to sell a sense of place that appeals to an outsiders’ gaze, all while using its people as resources for profit potential.
Meandering, 2015
Acrylic, burlap, found screen mesh, found metal, steel rod, copper wire, found shell casings, found bike chain, wood stain on wood
10.5” x 20” x 2.5”
Meandering is a consideration of the implications of systemic inequalities of race and class and the way in which these injustices result in a definite course of conflict, often times leading to a deadly flow of violence.
Through That Turbid Timeless Air, 2014
Latex house paint, found nails, found porcelain electric insulator knob, copper wire, steel wire on wood
25” x 40” x 12”
Through That Turbid Timeless Air is inspired by the reference to the starless air and titled after words from Dantes Inferno. It speaks to my interest in avian populations, specifically concerning the mystery of migration and the power of orientation in the night sky, in relation to homing experiments.
“Inferno” by Dante Alighieri
Here sighs and lamentations and loud cries
were echoing across the starless air,
so that, as soon as I set out, I wept.
Strange utterances, horrible pronouncements,
accents of anger, words of suffering,
and voice shrill and faints, and beating hands –
All went to make a tumult that will whirl
forever through that turbid, timeless air,
like sand that eddies when a whirlwind swirls.
An Ache For Distance 2, 2013
Acrylic, colored pencil, found metal washers, found window shutters, found spray paint cans, on found wood in artists frame
16” x 43” x 2.75”
An Ache For Distance is inspired by the recurred longing for solitude, contrasted with a desire for a sense of place and the continual pursuit of comprehension concerning these ever-changing intervals between points of time and states of mind.