Ember of The Dying Light

Ember of the dying Light is about the hope we place in a child. It's about Sisterhood, the strength of family, community and the future.
(Inspired by the slave castles and the transatlantic slave trade.)

In a fantasy like temple or coastal castle we are viewing this scene from the eyes of an intruder. There is a potential danger, three subjects, plus an unborn child are cornered. To their back is the open ocean set beneath the dying light of a scarlet sky. Two womyn on either side stand in a protective stance. They wear the tribal make up similar to the tribes of the western coast of Africa. The womban in the center seems of importance or royalty. Her child, shielded within their security. None show any sign of fear! The child the ember, the hope for the future. Will that ember be the cinder that kindles the fire that births the next great African Dynasty?
Ember of The Dying Light

Nairobi 2035 (Dead sons & the one who mourns them.)

The title refers to the Nairobi community of East Palo Alto, California and the development plan for the land of East Palo Alto in the future.

Basic Interpretation: The mask is from Cameroon and is said to represent the protective spirit of male presence. In her hands lays a dead boy. He represents the future sons of Nairobi that will die from criminalization and gentrification stemming from the urban ethnic cleansing tactics used in low income neighborhoods.

This protective spirit mourns the future lost lives and the decline of afrocentric thought in the community of East Palo Alto, across California, and beyond.

Thug-Life Americana: For God & Country

Americana is the folklore and cultural heritage of the United States. This piece speaks on the culture of hatred as a heritage of United States.

In the background the White House is exploding and engulfed in flames. The words "Lets make America great again!" written on the confederate battle flag. These words spoken and popularized by Donald Trump on the campaign trail have been the subliminal underlining message to a call for white supremacist remerge out in the open and uplift him into power. In doing so he pledges to restore America back position as a government that openly discriminates against religion and race with policy. He talks of policy against muslims, and south american immigrants. He rallies behind a message that the answer to police brutality is to "restore law and order". In these piece of pop culture iconology Trump is shown with Tupac Shakur's tattoos and bandana on a crucifix like a Machiavellian messiah. While four "3%er" "oath defenders" chase down a President Obama dressed in a convicts jumper and prison slippers. Obama's has Heath Ledger's Joker face paint on much like a popular conservative extremist's anti-Obama socialist poster from his first term.
Amidst the religion of white supremacy Donald Trump is a pop-icon God the Oath Defenders are his loyal troops. They will stop at nothing to make America great again, for God & country.

From Pop Art

Thee Original Sin

“Thee Original Sin” is a social commentary piece that references two ideas and draws comparison through its visual testimony. The Original sin is also called at times “ancestral sin”. It comes from the Christian set of beliefs that the state of humanity is a result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. It is thought that Adam giving into the temptation of eating the apple brought death into the world. In Genesis 2:17 it states “ You must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” Adam’s rebellion in Eden as it is often called is the condition of tendency toward sin without collective guilt. For this reason scholars and intellectuals refer to slavery as “America’s Original Sin”. Slavery is the foundation of the ideological capitalistic beliefs that this country was founded. The sin of slavery was set up and has evolved into mass incarceration without the collective guilt and culpability of the population in the country. The knowledge of ‘good and evil’ is a common merism used meaning ‘any kind of thing’ or ‘everything’. The idea of knowing “everything” is not so absolute but more the notion that we now have more knowledge than we can morally handle. This is also seems to be the current condition of our country.
We can now evaluate what this image is showing. Eve and Adam as slaves in the Garden of Eden shown as a trail or path to freedom. Slave patrols were sent out to capture slaves, ex-slaves, and freed Africans and bring them to plantations for bounty. The system of policing in this country is often said to have evolved from the slave patrols of our past. For this reason the police officer, a symbol of government, represents Satan and the awakening of evil in North America. As a serpent slithers out of his pant leg and the forbidden fruit he has eaten rolls from his dead hand, he lays green in color poisoned with toxic knowledge in a pool of his own blood. The system of slavery is his awakening it is America’s original sin and will bring about it’s own death.
Eve stands with a smoking gun over the death of satanic imperialist Amerikkka protecting her venerable Adam. Adam represents the condition of the African American male whose hands are metaphorical tied, shown as shackles. A defeated mind set on his knees eyes down, Adam has succumb and needs saving from the system of terror and oppression. Eve liberates them both in “Thee Original Sin”.

This Original piece is no longer available as a print.

Thee Elite

Loaded with hidden meaning through the use of symbolism, nothing in this image can be taken at face value. “Thee Elite” is a social commentary about American society and racial history. It is meant to evoke conversations about enslavement through incarceration and criminalization. And why it is the american society finds it acceptable in american culture to do so.

~(Basic interpretation)~

The white women in the foreground represent one individual, idealized. She represents the white American dream. On her journey to financial maturity, she is viewed naked. Clothing often holds us to an identity. We dress our selves according to how we see ourselves and how we wish to be seen by others. Through her quest for wealth she has lost her way, and her identity with it. As many do when then are trying to accumulate wealth and make sacrifices that conflict with their character or values in order to profit. Her younger self looks to her future for a glimpse of what she will become and her established self reminisces on her past and what she has lost.

The African-American womban references the “Willie Lynch Letter” which is placed on the coffee table under her hand. Thus she poses as if on a thrown, her spear ready for battle. She is powerful beyond measure. Breaking the African-American womban's identity is the key to the Willie Lynch agenda and the making of a slave. In the Willie Lynch Letter, Lynch says the white slave holder must run a series of tests to ensure the African womban will be submissive in every way. If she is resistant, he says, ‘beat the last bit of bitch out of her’. They aim to break her will, she is described as "the MOST important factor for good economics". She holds all the power, shown with a spear, and queen like pose. She the only person pictured wearing pants!

Above center frame is a copy of “The Clansman” white light is emitted from the pages illuminating the tip of a pestis being worn by an African-American man. The pestis protects him from the infectious mental diseases of White Supremacy. Yet from it he learns their tools of propaganda, mind manipulation and power suggestion. This book is written by a Klu Klux Klan member and inspired a much celebrated Hollywood movie titled "The Birth of a Nation". The Clansman was written as a warning to northern whites, that African-Americans when integrated would commit vicious crimes far out of proportion to their population. It a propaganda tool used to maintain segregation and to taint the justice system to be heavily discriminatory to African-Americans.

The pantsless cop in the noose represents, the loss of power from the tradition white Elite. The rope of the noose wraps around the three figures in a disturbing united trinity. This symbolically binds them like to each other and separates them from relationship of the other two figures (the American dream) in the foreground. Now that the African-American man has gained this knowledge, he has become aware of this criminalization and propaganda tactic used to create economical slaves. As a result, he can is no longer controlled and has put the noose on his oppressor, the modern slave system, and the New Jim Crow.

This Original piece is no longer available as a print.

The Gentrification Of East Palo Alto & The Oath of Sekhmet

"The Gentrification of East Palo Alto & The Oath of Sekhmet" depicts an epic battle between our two heroines and those that push to see our community fall.
In the image background right side our battle begins with an Oath. This composition is symbolic, its referencing Jacques-Louis David's painting in 1784 "The Oath of the Horatii" in which three brothers pledge an oath to their father to defend Rome against neighboring city Alba Longa.
In the same way through the policy and policing neighboring cities of Menlo Park and Palo Alto seem to have take an oath aimed at the destruction of community in East Palo Alto since well before the inception of the city. Unlike the male dominate Neo-Classical piece two womyn are called forth to defend the city.
Since the creation of the internet there has been a digital divide between the haves and have nots. A spilt between those that have access to information and those that can not access it. Usually in low income communities like East Palo Alto the divide can hinder one's education and knowledge growth. Under-education has always been a tool of gentrification, a long with criminalization, unemployment. Big tech corporations, have offered their employees incentives to move it communities where the digital divide is greatest and the property value is lowest. Developers see the market as a growing market and buy up land and homes. They then raise the rents so high a large part of city is forced out. Once this gentrification takes hold the new renters and home owners control the vote, new city council members are elected and the city is lost.
The warrior Goddess foreground left fights in Zulu Warrior attire. Symbolizing the epic resistance this city has put forth reminiscent of the Zulu tribe's epic fight over British colonialism. The warrior Goddess background left fights with divine intelligence and integrity, able to conquer her foe with skill and technique. In the foreground you can see she is shown symbolically with a blue peacock printed on African stylized fabric. As a person who is symbolized by peacocks she has great honor and is trustworthy. As the leaders of struggle against gentrification must be. The both embody the spirit of Sekhmet visible by fire. One of which a flame figure comes forth the other seen by faces in the blaze. They are incorruptible, fighting from the heart for the love of their city. Nothing is more noble then their sacrifice.
This image is dedicated to my mother and aunt but also to all the mothers of our cities that have done their part to fight on our behalf! None can be exalted higher then you and none know the depth of your sacrifice but your children...

The Rebirth of Isis and The Imperial Eraser

"The Rebirth of Isis and The Imperial Eraser" is a social commentary piece about reclaiming our identity and Afrocentricity.
It is about stepping away from Eurocentric beauty and erasing the notion of value only being placed upon us by European hands.
Lets take a closer look;
First you must overstand Venus is the Roman version of the goddess Isis by way of the Greek goddess Aphrodite she was adopted. She is depicted countless times by European artists throughout history most famously are the "Birth and Rebirth of Venus". Of which we offer the frame work for this satire.
Venus is the Goddess of beauty, love, and sexuality to the Roman. But what is she to an Afrikan? A symbol of stolen culture, history and a reminder the marvels created of Afrikan artisan are always to be hidden with evidence of creators destroyed. The legacy of and entire civilizations bamboozled by Romans and culture appropriated European people to be repackaged to a modern consumer culture that readily buys into the white supremacy being poured into their mind like water into a thirsty well. What better way to oppress a people then to keep them from overstanding whom they are.
A Conch horn blows announcing the rebirth of Isis. It is the rebirth of the strong matriarchy in the Afrikan womban, the Goddess. She is rightfully feared by white power her arrival has brought the execution of false ideals of beauty, power, strength and culture. In a world with Isis, Venus can not exist!
Venus lays dying throat cut by an Egyptian Khopesh sword. She holds gold coins in one hand that coupled with her demise signifies the end of the European ideals of beauty and its value or lack of Afrikan value being placed upon us from the Eurocentric hand. The other hand releases a crucifix necklace this is a visual oxymoron. She is a false goddess seeming to worship a false religion or culture appropriated version of. She is not of her own culture and modern Christianity is not its own either. Venus in herself a symbol of culture appropriation. The crucifix lays on the same rock a Roman ridge helmet (Berkasovo I), early 4th century AD, on a rock. The two together point to Constantine and the Council of Nicaea. "The Nicene Creed" where mortal men decided the beliefs that Christians of today still believe and worship. It changed the the face and essence of Christianity. Christianity which was an Afrikan religion and also hailed from branches of the same tree as Kemet's Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Now during this period being drastically changed and white washed.
Alas the same imperialist culture of conquest, destruction, knowledge suppression, and assimilation is the one that gives you their definition of beauty and tells you to make it your own. The likeness of their Venus. Straight hair, sharp nose, light skin, and thin lips. Beneath the shrine of death is, a mirror, blow dryer, hair dye, and relaxers. Here in the Rebirth of Isis is an imperial eraser!

The Angel of Insurrection

This image pays homage to the angelic spirit of the heroine. She is the force, selfless and fearless, in every American uprising and civil disobedient act of liberation. She is shown as a common and underclass member of society. As an angel she has no need to reproduce or nurture a child thus she is shown topless without nipples. She wears torn stockings, a tutu style skirt, and is shoeless in fact she is comparably styled to an addicted streetwalker. Many heroine/hero are common and born of a struggle. They are determined and in the face of all odd arise to the struggle. She holds a gun as she ascends to heaven. The gun symbolizes power and deadly fight. This image pays tribute to the unsung Harriett Tubman’s and the Nat Turner female counter parts who’s names are never known or long forgotten, uncelebrated due to the duality of their oppression.

Love's Betrayal

Love's Betrayal A romantic Noir ~(Basic Interpretation)~

Love's Betrayal is America's obsession and love for the oppression of African-Americans, their culture, and their history. It highlights the devaluing of African-American womban as it tells it's story through the metaphor of a romantic noir. The two subjects are only symbols of this tragic romance. The Klansman symbolizes America and the white supremacist popular American culture, while the Goddess symbolizes the embodiment of the African-American spirit. Amidst the visual epic a tale of a cultural death through the love of oppression and identity confusion. The Klansman holds a rope with a hangman's knot that suggests America is the judge and executioner of culture. The womban is a Goddess losing flight, chained and weighted down by the American flag. The Klansmen's embrace holds true the love of oppression. While she has found betrayal of self in the romance of being oppressed.

The Performance of Burden & Culpability Sharing a Stage With Vulnerability

This commentary speaks to the heavy load placed upon African womyn through the subjugation of sexuality in American society. This piece speaks of the blame, the weight, and the preditorial behavior for the benefit of entertainment and financial prosperity. She is shown against the backdrop of a carnival marry-go-round. She appears to be on display with the painted face of an entertainer. The clown makeup is juxtaposed with her unhappy expression. She is being objectified and used for profit like a sex worker or a stripper. She stands vulnerable but in a closed and guarded pose. She wears the colors of America red white and blue inclusive with the stars on her boots. Did America place her in this position by design or is she responsible for her own oppression? It is so customary in our society to blame the victims especially when the victim is an African American womban. However African womban are the targets of sexualized oppression and subjugation through the constant bombarding of imagery, music, and repetitive and destructive propaganda to no end. The destruction of the African womban’s self image is key to the destruction of a race and break down of a healthy family.

This Original piece is no longer available as a print.

Propaganda

(Propaganda is a detail extraction from a larger piece call Media-Propaganda-Control)
~Basic Interpretation & Overstanding
Propanganda is shows the Afrikan womban in white face victorian with a victorian wig. Behind her are two tv's on without broadcast. She looks directly into camera as does the CHP officer. She wears a swim bikini as the CHP officer kneels over her in a familiar pose (David Casebolt Texas Pool Party).

We are bombarded with messages of propaganda, they direct society to act this way or behave that way. They are sponsored by the wealthy and those in power. The messages inherently benefit the wealthy and those in power and many are aimed to create a faction of society that is disadvantaged.

The CHP is doing wrong he is symbolically wearing a ski mask which criminals wear when engaged in crime to protect their identity. His victim is that of womban who has bought into the harmful messages of self that stimulates loss of identity. To keep a powerful people conquered you must miseducated them and keep them misinformed and keep them as the target of self-hating campaign. The televisions' broadcast no signal. Are they the creator, the carrier, or the observer?

Media-Propaganda-Control

What we have here is:

Mental Slavery caused by corporate sponsored media campaigns used as tactical forms of genocide.

The repetitive messaging being broadcast in all mediums of art bombarding us with negative and destructive imagery. We see the Clippers, Fox News, CNN, Walmart, Coke-A-Cola as mothers milk, Mc Donald's the low income grocery store, Nazi white supremacist oppressive governing systems, physical control, mind control, targeting African womyn for destruction, destroying their self image, self confidence, idolizing of controlled brain washed womyn promoting a and forwarding the propaganda and messaging to the next generation....etc.

THE PRISON OF THE MIND ~IS THE LUCID DREAM PROJECTED AND INTERNALIZED THROUGH TELEVISION.

Sedition

Sedition is conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch. This piece is aptly titled sedition for that reason. As we move into a world where we now acknowledge an African-American citizen is killed by law enforced every 28hrs. We must reflect on how the stories of African-Americans are told and why they are told from the Eurocentric lens.
The Africans are both in slavery inspired attire reminiscent of maroon or “runaway” slaves. During the time of slavery, patrols were run by the slaveholder class in which they would hire working class whites to gather freed slaves, runaway slaves, and other free Africans in order to bring them to plantations for rewards and profit.

However, Africans that were free were not easy targets for capture, they were resistant and fierce in battle. This is a fact white historian typically do not like to make common knowledge. In fact modern police officers evolved from such patrolling parties. As depicted here is a much more accurate visual rendition of past resistance and interactions between clashing Americans. The police officer is shown in black and white symbolizing death or lifelessness, all but his badge that of which is in full color. This is a representation that the system of oppression is in good health. The subtle suggestion here is to solve the current crisis of police violence against a targeted population with an eye for an eye mentality.

In the “Willie Lynch Letter” it is lined out for us that part of breaking the African womban is to destroy the image of her African mate. This was done by public beatings and mutilations. If she sees that the African man cannot protect himself nor her from abuse she will be more likely to turn to her abuser for protection. Thus here she is viewed vulnerable yet protected beneath her mate the African man a reversal of the usual propaganda. Will history remember the truth of these epic struggles or will the truth continue to be whitewashed out and be rewritten by the government and elite controlled media?

This is a retelling of history with current issues of racial struggles in its mist. Much symbolism and themes of power and submission make this image an iconic piece of Fine Art propaganda in the depiction of a racial cast system of oppression.