2020 – Front: dyed organza with embroidery and dyed silk applique. Behind: portraits painted on hemp, with embroidery.
With George Floy’s death, and the pandemic, my isolation, shame and helplessness led me to attempt expression in fiber. Using a geometric grid (everything is connected) and an altered quilt block, (nature is not square) I tried to show that these times require new ways of understanding, problem solving, and acting. Portraits of those recent, unarmed, Black people killed by police rest behind.
Dyed silk, hemp, embroidery floss
38in H x 23in W x 3in D
NFS
Entry Statement: In my work I am moved to present complex stories of injustice with juxtaposition and metaphor. In this “New Order” Black lives do matter, and flourish. In 1959 Billie Holiday sang of “Strange Fruit”, contributing to the start of the Civil Rights movement. My “Longing “ is for a similar life changing movement.