you’re not colorblind

Oil Paint on Canvas

2020

This piece is about what it means to exist in white space. The tension that exists in trying to be white enough to fit into white space, is one I have grappled with all my life. I am constantly confronted with situations in which I am asked to remove my Black identity for the comfort of others. The woman in the painting represents the version of me people are constantly waiting for me to turn into; the man in the painting represents an intentional aversion to my Blackness. But I refuse to let my Blackness be ignored any longer. It is not invisible, and it is not irrelevant. It’s one of the very best things about me.