“Black Box”

Black Mail

Part 1

Black Cloud
Black Heart
Blackout
Black Sheep
Black Ball
Black Market
Black List
Black Ice
Black Head
Black Cat
Black Death
Black Man

Life-sized (72” X 32” by 13 images) wheat paste poster mural meant to engage the public and break up the monotony of the daily commute of passerbyers. Used a tool for passive confrontation and brings the conversation into public spaces to prompt more dialogue and empathy.

One of the goals of the project is to help demystify and rehumanize black men by creating experiences for attendees that outweigh what they have “learned” during the enculturation process. By making people more aware of how we use and view colors we become more educated and aware of the social impact.

This series resulted in 13 portraits of black side by side. Each man has a shirt with the word black preceding a noun. The last portrait is of the artist who is wearing a shirt that says Black Man. It is implied there is something negative about the man based on the color that describes him.

“Black Box Women”

Black Box is a community impact and engagement platform comprised of five elements aimed at making black men more accessible outside of the workplace and play space. The ultimate goal is demystification, understanding and connection through discourse. One goal is to replace the “learned” with authentic firsthand experience.

Part One:

 A community impact project designed to positively highlight Black men, promote understanding and empathy, foster education and healing. Community members come into a safe intimate space to dialogue with a diverse group of 13 black men one-on-one. Each man wears a shirt with an assigned noun preceded by the word BLACK, which becomes a prompt for discussion. Nouns preceded by black are negatively connoted and what we learn during our American enculturation is black most often implies “bad”.

  • Black Ice

  • Black Heart

  • Black Cloud

  • Black Sheep

  • Blackout

  • Black Head

  • Blackball

  • Black List

  • Black Man

  • Black Death

  • Black Magic

  • Blackguard

There is bias implicit in the designation of the color black to most nouns as opposed to “white” which is positively connoted even when attached to negative nouns and verbs.

Part 2

Part Two:

 A largescale (48” X 21” by 13 images) photo project highlighting how the black is negatively connoted in almost every literal iteration and the real-life impact this has on black people.

  1. Part 3

Part Three:

A multi-channel video sharing the perspective of black males ages 12-92 without interruption, dismissal, contention, minimization, comparison. Part three functions as a listening tool. Viewers are meant to absorb information rather than converse.

See more about part three here:

 https://local12.com/amp/news/local/thinking-outside-the-black-box-local-artist-uses-talent-to-positively-highlight-black-men-cincinnati

Part 4

Part Four:

A 13-episode podcast housing complete interviews of each of the participants, their perspectives, beliefs, barriers, and experience living in the United States. Black Box Podcast was created to work in tandem with the other four elements via a QR code placed near each element. Once scanned with a smart phone the QR code animates the images and adds dimension to the overall experience by overlaying voices onto the other elements. Available on Spotify, Anchor and many streaming platforms.