4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
One of Amerikkka’s biggest fears takes shape in the form of African-Americans. This time I am caught in a red scope my face doesn’t matter, and my name doesn’t matter. My hands are safely placed in my pockets. Police yell across the horizon for me to put my hands up, but they also shout don’t move. I look out onto all the cellphones that are recording and then back at the officers. If I move my hands out of my pockets that’s enough to get shot, and white twitter will say that the officers did their jobs and that I was menacing. Black twitter will curse them out and will hit them with all the statistics of unarmed African-Americans being murdered. So I close my eyes. I close them and I pray of a scenario where my parents don’t have to bury their child. A scenario where my brothers don’t have to get matching R.I.P tattoos. A scenario where I leave with my life and not a bunch tweets and posts of what I could’ve been. And right before I could thank God for listening to my ted talk, the police let the tech’s talk. Rest in Peace Public Enemy.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Amerikkka. Home of the slaves and land of the oppressed. Where innocent minorities get gunned down, and harassed day to day by men and women that took oaths to protect us. At the center of that target, I have placed myself a young Haitian/African-American. And if I die in amerikkka’s scope my name becomes immortal, and I get to live in social media’s spotlight until the next boy, girl, man, woman, father, or mother is killed.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Tangled marked a new feeling of purpose in my artistic journey. It let me know that the burdens I carry with me everyday can only hold me back, or define me only if I choose to.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Blue Magic was heroin that’s 100% pure and turns blue when you put a chemical into it. It could be smoked because it was pure enough as opposed to injected. Frank Lucas used it as the brand name for the heroin he was selling during the late 60's and early 70's. Which he made millions off of. “Blue Magic, that's a brand name, like pepsi. That's a brand name, I stand behind it, I guarantee it. They know that even if they don't know me any more than they know the chairman of General Mills" – Denzel as Frank Lucas in American Gangster.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Everything we lost in the fire, we’ll find in the ashes. I believe all humans carry attachments. Some physical, spiritual, and emotional. With those attachments also comes the fear of losing those attachments, which is a metaphor for the fire. A hole burns through the middle of the composition and my torso; however there is another photo of me intact underneath it. Nothing is lost for forever.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Faded is a play on a common phrase you are what you eat. The more he indulges himself the more alike they become, and the same way alcohol fades and evaporates, so does his knowledge and health.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
And as the bottles empty, So do I. Where there was once knowledge. Is now blank space. Where there was love and passion. Is now filled with resentment. Where there was desire. Is now indifference. And the more I binge to fill myself. The more empty I become…
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Credits to Winifer Estevez
I put the “I” in sinner. The relationship between the sinner and his deliberate violation of religious and moral principle, and the patience as well as the mercy of a divine God.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Every Nigga is a Star was the title of my senior undergraduate thesis show. I revisited the title at the beginning of the Autobiography to mark the beginning of this series. I am surrounded by stars in the composition and ready to be one.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
I begin by hiding my face behind a blank white canvas and maybe the audience thinks I’m struggling with my identity. Maybe they think I’m hiding whatever insecurities a young African American man should be embarrassed about this week. From nappy hair to big lips, etc. But no its none of that. The photo is a visual metaphor for the racists cowards that hide behind a bedsheet, a tiki torch, and a badge.
4x6 Photography and Mixed Media. From the Autobiography.
Through the power of photography I was able to travel back in time. Subtle reminders of how happy I was with so little. When seven of us filled up a little two bedroom apartment. It’s amazing how far we’ve come, but a reminder of how far we still have to go.