Monolith

 If I had to create a name for my piece, it would be monolith. That is the word that drove my creative process. When reading about the battle to be a “representative” identity in our community, I realized it was definitely a double edged sword. Who can lead us inside the community and represent our community to outsiders, without erasing the opinions, ideas and experiences of a wide array of individuals. Personally, in many areas I related to the “black experience” but there were many instances where a black opinion or action was judged, but it didn’t align with my own. Anna Julia Cooper said “no man can represent the race” and “Whatever the attainments of the individual may be, unless his home has moved on pari passu, he can never be regarded as identical with or representative of the whole.” and I wholeheartedly agree. A false image of a collective can be easily broadcasted and erases lived realities of individuals. We are viewed as one-dimensional zoo animals, understood as what our representative projects and nothing else. At the base of my art there are white people trying to push us into a box. One that's black and white, and full of stereotypes. The singularity trying to be created is bursting out, black people of many different kinds clawing their way out, all the while hurting each other is the process. Just visually, skin tone, hair, features, and clothing differ so imagine the experiences, morals, and ambitions that remain unseen to the naked eye. Even though we are fundamentally unique, one person gets the microphone and we fight each other when the real enemies are those in power who force their ideologies onto us. At our core the oppression connects us, yet our individuality will break free no matter how hard those in power work to belittle us. The world isn’t black and white, and our diverse experience brings color to the world.