Pushed Across the Waters

Pushed Across the Waters looks at the forced movement of the enslaved through violence, displacement, and loss. The brutal push across the waters, a push into silence and the erasure of history that shapes the present.

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The raised faces emerging from the surface represent those who were taken, traded, killed and forgotten.  They are the witnesses rising from the surface, refusing to remain hidden throughout history.  Their original names and culture stripped from them and recorded as if they were livestock.

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The repeated dots on the work represent the many lives lost and the scale of human suffering and cruelty by the hands of others.  I used a bronze effect on the surface to give the feeling of past and present to reminds us that this history is not that distant at all, and it continues to shape our identity, memory, and feelings of belonging.

 

Lest we forget the millions who were taken and erased, I hope that the work honors them, who they could have been and who we have become.  We honor and remember each life as a person with their own story, family, dreams and a future that was interrupted.