Stories Behind the Postcards / Jim Crow

A solo exhibition presented in 2010 and 2011.

Images

Artist Statement

This series of paintings and collages respond to lynching postcards that were mailed around the country during the Jim Crow Era as souvenirs. Thousands upon thousands of African Americans were lynched between the 1880s and the Second World War. Over the years, I have thought about what I did not see in the postcards, primarily the family members left behind to take down the victim, to mourn and bury their remains if there was enough left to bury.

I want the viewer to relate to as much of the human being and their environment as possible, such as skin color, facial features, the color of their clothing, time of day and place where these acts took place, and to ultimately understand the family connections. The viewer should see the victim’s life before death was captured in a postcard. I believe the 3” x 5” sepia-toned or black and white, framed postcards, which have been the historical way for museums to present this material, keep the audience from connecting with the victims in the photos because there is no entry point for the viewer into the image.

I uncover our human connection through painting. I want the viewer to be as uncomfortable as possible looking at the worst human brutality imaginable. The paintings push the audience to think outside of the box when they contemplate the imagery. To accomplish this, I have enlarged aspects of the postcards with the hope of providing the viewer with an entry point into these horrific images. I challenge the viewer to have a complex and conflicting relationship with the imagery and content. My goal is to hold the viewer’s attention for as long as possible.

My piece ‘Three Generations’ examines the lynching of women during this time period. The painting is of a female victim who is down on her side, her skirt is wrinkled and close to her hips, and her head is tilted to the right. Her body is foreshortened so the viewer does not see the atrocity (rape) that took place before she was lynched. An older woman, leaning over the victim, is beside herself with anger and sadness. A middle-aged woman stands resolutely over the older women’s shoulder with a comforting hand on the woman’s hip.  She holds in her pain and resolve to the event that took place hours before. We cannot see her anguish. We can only imagine it.

I conceived of this series with the hope of causing an emotional shift in the viewer and a subtle shift in the conversation. My hope is to stimulate different questions and emotions about the content and move the viewer beyond typical politically correct thoughts and feelings about race and race relations. I ask,  “Does the legacy of racism (hate) left behind from slavery, Jim Crow, the inhuman treatment of American Indians, and countless other injustices suffered by other immigrant groups, in this country, change the way you behave towards others who are different from you today?”  I hope the audiences’ personal reflection will have a lasting impact on the next generation.

As an artist, I believe we need to be at the forefront of complex issues; pushing the boundaries of exposing truth, creating understanding and acknowledging our past, present and future. Racism is a barrier in this country and around the world. No one image could capture or represent all of the loss, anger, disgust, hatred, powerlessness, fight, flight or freedom that comes with this reality. My current series gives a voice to the voiceless. I will end with a quote from Philip Dray, “Until we understand how pervasive and socially accepted the practice was—and, more important, why this was so—it will haunt all efforts at racial reconciliation.”*

* Dray Philip, At The Hands of Persons Unknown: Lynching of Black America. Random House, Inc: New York, 2002.