Cotton Flower
February 8 – March 2, 2025
The Cotton Flower series uses portraiture to center Black women in historical discourse surrounding enslaved resistance. In slave societies, power was constructed through the use of race and gender. Enslaved women were exploited not only for their labor but also for their capacity to sustain the workforce through childbirth. The persistent threat of sexualized violence and forced familial separation pushed some women to subvert reproduction by engaging in bold acts of resistance. On cotton plantations, in particular, some enslaved women chose to ingest cotton roots to prevent pregnancy and induce abortions. By asserting their bodily autonomy, these Black women insurgents directly challenged the slave economy. In an effort to reconcile with and transform the profound pain of this history into power, the Cotton Flower series re-envisions cotton plants as symbols of gendered resistance—instruments powerfully wielded by enslaved Black women to circumvent systems of oppression and fight for selfhood.
Artist Statement
I view collage art as emblematic of the interconnectedness of the African diaspora. Just as the dispersed people of the Diaspora are tied together by the thread of ancestry, in collage disjointed pieces are fused to communicate one story. Despite the horrors of the Transatlantic crossing and enslavement, Black people chose to survive—weaving together fragments of their diverse identities to form new cultures in the Americas. I use collage as a tool to mirror these historical processes in her artistic practice. Drawing from imagery of people from across the African Diaspora, I deconstruct and resignify disparate parts to communicate experiences and historical narratives. My works serve as visual records of Black protagonism, using the “Black Gaze” as an instrument to amplify the agency of the Black figure. Rather than subjects to be viewed and consumed, my figures look defiantly out onto the world—engaging, confronting, and challenging the viewer.
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