Black Woman Reclaiming Dream Space in Tub (2023)

Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas 

48" x 60"

Artist's Note About This Painting:

Whiskey and weed in the tub became a form of self-care in my late 20s. Bath time was a sacred ritual, reminiscent of the baptisms I witnessed and once endured as a child at church. During these bathtub baptisms, I would infuse precious things into the water to nourish my skin and ruin beloved books with the luxuriating water.

This painting is directly inspired by Wayne Thiebaud’s Woman in Tub. I was immediately drawn to the piece, but I was frustrated because it was another painting of a White woman through a White man's gaze. Anyway, I had recently read Tricia Hersey’s Rest Is Resistance, which emphasized the importance of Black leisure. I decided I would remix the narrative in my own vision.

This painting is through a Black woman’s lens, and she is her own subject. Dark liquor and weed were salves for a heavy mind. She rests her eyes, seeking a moment of quiet. Leisure is a necessary tool for imagination. For centuries, leisure was something denied to Black people in the West. This painting is a visual representation of reclaiming what was always owed to us.