Selected Works

Statement

The prison system that exists today is a direct outgrowth of its predecessor that allowed captive labor to exist during slavery. The concrete plantations now are an 11-billion-dollar industry that needs bodies to keep the wheels of its money-making monstrosity working properly. The genius of the 13th Amendment was that slavery ended with a caveat. Criminals could still be engaged to work without pay. Blacks in America, then as now have been the cross section between brutal incarceration and white dominance with a huge payday attached to it

The new “Concrete Plantations” sees these black prisoners as necessary cogs in the wheel of their lucrative enterprise. The more social unrest and cruel limitations put upon black Americans, the easier to hold them in jails and prisons to counteract their dissent. It’s a perfect storm of cruelty and power.

This on-going series, OUTNUMBERED seeks to address the vast numbers of black citizens who are incarcerated to maintain this profitable industry. I use prison numbers instead of people to highlight an indifferent and often deliberately racist penal system within this country.

Note: This on-going series OUTNUMBERED has been funded in part by an Artist Trust GAP grant 2022

 

Bio

I was born in NYC and learned early on that my imagination was a superpower I could use creatively throughout my artistic career. I studied classical sculpture at Massachusetts College of Art, but made a living as a painter and arts integration educator. I always teach everyone that their creativity is not limited to fine art, but encompasses every aspect of their lives as they harness and develop their creative thinking/exploration skills. I have used this elemental philosophy in my own approach to my multicultural artwork and it has widened my worldview and teaching opportunities. 

I have worked independently as an artist and as a black woman of 72, I am proud of how I have survived many racially dangerous times in our recent social history. It has been my life's work to be a witness to these events through my multimedia work as an artist, writer, photographer and educator.