That Place Print Series

That place refers to Klein, established by my great-great grandfather when he settled in Alabama and completed in 1841.  My family enslaved about 100 people on this cotton plantation, some of whom made the bricks, cut the timber, and built the house..  I spent my childhood summers here with my grandmother. It has been the focus of my exploration of this fraught heritage and the central element of our reimagining to create a future shared by all descendants of the place, of those who were enslaved and the enslavers. In this series, I explore the nature of the house’s past and of my relationship to it. 

Cotton Economy

Cotton Economy is a hand cut pigment ink jet print in which elements within a line drawing of the house are cut out to reveal a cotton boll pattern underneath. The cotton bolls exist both outside and inside the house and are the ground on which it exists.

Life Course 1

Life Course 1 has multiple images of myself floating across the front of a dusky blue image of Klein. My figure shifts from red to pink to white, indicating movement through life.

Life Course 2

Life Course 2 has multiple images of myself floating across the front of a dull yellow image of Klein, with gold highlights of the house and stylized cotton as a front yard.. As in Life Course 1, my figure shifts from red to pink to white, indicating movement through life. The gold of the cotton and house speaks to cotton as white gold and the house built from that gold using the labor of enslaved people .