Study for "Sacred Waters 2: Antebellum"

These recent works are part of a series called "Sacred Waters 2," exploring African heritage and diaspora, and the cultural impact of the slave trade. This image is of a "Big House," referring to the quarters of slave owners on plantations where chattel slavery was perpetuated. This image is threatening for African Americans with ties to enslaved ancestors. That's why I chose the color red to portray the image, as the color is associated with fear and danger. In the first image, I emphasized the shadows cast by the trees using crushed red rose petals. I often use dried or preserved flowers as a symbol of mourning, and in this case they also represent blood and death. This symbolizes the violence of slavery embedded in the land of such plantations. The second image is the negative of the first, which was drawn using this piece of red carbon paper. To me, it looks like a still of a horror movie.

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