2020, 86 x 84 x 154cm, latex rubber sheeting, white sugar pearls, rocks, pins, steel
Immortalized by the culturing of her malignant cancer cells in 1951 (unbeknownst to her or her family), Henrietta Lacks’ cell's (known as HeLa cells) seemingly magical properties made some of the most impactful medical advancements possible from the 20th century to today.
Latex, a material often used in the medical world, along with its skin-like resemblance, smooth and chocolatey, gets poked, stretched to its limit and weighed down by the mutilating effects of rapidly progressing cervical cancer inside Henrietta Lacks. Doctor’s dismissiveness towards Black health and administering of constant radiation and radium “treatments” only helped to speed the growth of her illness. Henrietta’s autopsy reports,
“tumors the size of baseballs had nearly replaced her kidneys, bladder, ovaries and uterus…her other organs were so covered in small white tumors it looked as if someone had filled her with pearls”.
2020, 86 x 84 x 154cm, latex rubber sheeting, white sugar pearls, rocks, pins, steel
2020, 86 x 84 x 154cm, latex rubber sheeting, white sugar pearls, rocks, pins, steel
2020, 86 x 84 x 154cm, latex rubber sheeting, white sugar pearls, rocks, pins, steel
2020, 86 x 84 x 154cm, latex rubber sheeting, white sugar pearls, rocks, pins, steel
2020
Kennedy Heights Art Center, Cincinnati
Latex rubber sheet, tile, metal rod
Anarcha alludes the tortured experimentation and treatment of Black bodies from slavery to the 20th century. A physical record of what Black women have endured “for the greater good” at the hands of medical professionals whether to find cures for illnesses, medical teachings, financial gain, or to find an explanation for “what makes a negro a negro”. The name Anarcha is the direct mention of an enslaved woman who lost her unborn baby at the hands of James Marion Sims, “the father of gynecology” who later operated on her reproductive organs over 30 times, without anesthesia, claiming it was too precious a commodity and not worth wasting on slaves (all the while, Sims would administer anesthesia to the husbands of wives who suffered pain during sex, knocking them out so husbands can fornicate without the objection of their unconscious wives). After perfecting his procedure to fix Vesicovaginal Fistula on forced Black subjects after 4 excruciating years, including Anarcha and Lucy, he left about half of them untreated in order to work his magic on willing white women, undoubtedly with anesthesia.
7m x 66cm Scroll, inkjet on paper, wood, paint
2016
From the multi-media series on the neglect and invisibility of Black women in America. Displayed is a detail of 100 years of Vogue magazine covers from their initial release in 1916 to 2016. One cover per month for 100 years, with 15 total covers featuring a model of color, all void of their original image and replaced with just the model’s name and the year debuted.
7m x 66cm Scroll, inkjet on paper, wood, paint
2016
From the multi-media series on the neglect and invisibility of Black women in America. Displayed is a detail of 100 years of Vogue magazine covers from their initial release in 1916 to 2016. One cover per month for 100 years, with 15 total covers featuring a model of color, all void of their original image and replaced with just the model’s name and the year debuted.
performance
2016
A multi-media series on the neglect and invisibility of Black women in America. Displayed is the Upper West Side of Manhattan, one of several performances in the NYC area. A masked Black woman exposes herself entirely but remains anonymous. She gazes back at you in an act of defiance towards the neglect she faces daily.
performance/postcard
2017
These postcards were distributed to Brooklyn implants in areas of devastating gentrification and subway cars that traveled through them. A Brooklyn native can tell one from the rest.
125 x 15 x 10cm soy wax, string
2018
The malleable characteristics of wax assist the concept of sexual fluidity, apparent in forms of banded erectile tissue, while strings suspend them as mobile individuals. Exploring the differences and sameness in sexual organs and by extension sexuality and gender/preferences.
125 x 15 x 10cm soy wax, string
2018
black glass, surveillance camera, television
2018
As one walks through the gallery space, they would catch their own reflection in the dark glass. This is a commentary on the superficiality of the art world. We tend to look at our own reflection in museum glass and glazed works instead of the work itself. In this case, you are the work - and on the other side of the wall, another viewer watches a T.V. screen showing you watching yourself in the black glass.
black glass, surveillance camera, television
2018
black glass, surveillance camera, television
2018
black glass, surveillance camera, television
2018
soy wax
26 x 23 x 9cm
2018
Our cell phones have become a part of our bodies. When it isn’t in its designated pocket or our hands, it feels like a void within us. The dependency humans are facing with technology and constant communication is an addiction we should all be aware of. How is this affecting our memory, intelligence, relationships?