More Lynching Blues

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1.  Lynching Blues #5 is one of the earliest of the lynching series. I wasn't sure how far the drawings would go during this period, but I knew it was important for me to have this sort of creative documentation about a horrible piece of American history. Especially as it pertains to people who look like me. I've often imagined what it would have been like to live during this particular period as a black man, or even as a gay black man. This piece also displays my beginning to come into my own with the ink washes, I think.

2. Lynching Blues #25 expresses how the nightmarish injustices affected the consciousness of black people on a daily basis. It displays what the mental health must have been like for many who were affected directly, or indirectly as African Americans during Jim Crow.

3. Lynching Blues # 27 shows a tar and feather event taking place outside, by a white mob. It also tells how racism is definitely a taught behavior, as little children are exposed to such things without any regard to age or understanding of the inhumane treatment of other people.

4. Lynching Blues #2 is another early drawing of the series, in which I was experimenting more with my love of trees also, and combining them into different narratives.

5. Lynching Blues #4 was partially inspired by the song Strange Fruit, mostly famous as an important protest by singer Billie Holiday who gave a haunting performance of the tune. Within the lyrics is a description of " bulging eyes and the twisted mouth. " As it tells the story of lynching. I imagined the gagging as the noose squeezes the throat, when the victims weight is released to hang in the air.

Lynching Blues continued

More drawings from the Lynching Blues series. Although I created these years ago, they have become even more relevant now during these troubling and deeply disturbing times, in the world today.

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1. Lynching Blues #11 displays a slave woman holding a basket of cotton over her head, perhaps preparing to consolidate it with the rest of what has already been gathered, from her labor of the day. This piece was done without my usual ballpoint pen lines, and laid out onto the paper with a brush and India ink only. The bold lines create a more statuesque appearance. I think this technique was very effective in bringing out the bushels of cotton, remaining on the dark stems in the field.

2. Lynching Blues #12 shows the horror and terror of Jim Crow, as the KKK terrorized African American communities. It suggest the painful realities of having to choose between defending the lives of your own family and surrendering to the hate crimes of a dominant culture.

3. Lynching Blues #14 is a piece about how members of the black community had to rely heavily on spiritual and religious guidance, in dealing with the systemic racism of society. The black church in particular was a safe haven for a people being targeted and hunted by racist mobs.

4. Lynching Blues #18 displays the celebratory and glorification of lynching that was often photographed and printed on post cards, to be distributed for enjoyable entertainment and mere amusement among many whites.

5. Lynching Blues #28 expresses the sadness and hopelessness of segregation during the turbulent and unjust times throughout the nation.