I see you, 2021
prescription eyeglasses, acrylic paint
5 x 5 in.
I am a white woman in the United States. I cannot begin to understand the life experiences of a black person in the United States. I see from the outside and empathize with the burdens they bear today, and the history of abuses suffered at the hands of whiteness since colonization hit North America.
In the work, “I see you”, I reveal the lenses I look through when seeing Black America around and beside me. I hope through these lenses, the person in front of me will be seen in all the beauty of their present self while acknowledging their current struggles and generational trauma. I want the person to know that I want for them what I want for every human: shelter, food, freedom, voice, opportunity, joy, love, justice, equality, self-determination. I work for racial justice in the ways I am able because I desire to live in the country I was told existed in the United States after the successes of the Civil Rights Movement. I have learned that there is so much more progress to be made. Racial justice and equality work is far from over.
5 x 5 in.
I am a white woman in the United States. I cannot begin to understand the life experiences of a black person in the United States. I see from the outside and empathize with the burdens they bear today, and the history of abuses suffered at the hands of whiteness since colonization hit North America.
In the work, “I see you”, I reveal the lenses I look through when seeing Black America around and beside me. I hope through these lenses, the person in front of me will be seen in all the beauty of their present self while acknowledging their current struggles and generational trauma. I want the person to know that I want for them what I want for every human: shelter, food, freedom, voice, opportunity, joy, love, justice, equality, self-determination. I work for racial justice in the ways I am able because I desire to live in the country I was told existed in the United States after the successes of the Civil Rights Movement. I have learned that there is so much more progress to be made. Racial justice and equality work is far from over.
