African-Americans do not own their own intellectual property. Most things born of our creation whether in thought, word, dance or music is quickly appropriated, monetized and used to further advance white Eurocentric power in America. The power totem in our country comfortably seats the white male at the top while the black male is crushed below. Black culture is taken hostage by white businesses and corporations to sell a plethora of products. Brands and products that have no relationship with African-American people, culture or communities use “us” to make “them” appear to be cool, hip and relatable. Images of who and what black people are-are now controlled by corporations, media and the music industry and have contributed to the objectification, hyper sexualization, demonization and reduction of who we are as a people. Black culture although created by black people no longer belongs to black people who live in the United States. Slavery still exists in this country and in its current covert state has evolved to primarily utilize passive prompting in the form of words and images perpetuating a form of mental bondage as opposed to the unpalatable physical bondage of centuries past. This series of painting aims to unveil the façade.

In the United States, the term “monkey” when referring to a person, carries overt racial prejudice aimed specifically at black people and implies that our large facial features and dark skin are more closely related to our evolutionary cousins. In Asia, the term “monkey” when referring to a person describes someone who disrupts the harmony of a situation. In the context of American history, the disruptors were predominantly white as evidenced by the lasting impact and current conditions of the African-American, Native-American and Latin-American communities among others. Globally, the disruption of harmony all indigenous groups suffered historically came by the hands of white conquerors. For this reason, I have chosen to paint white monkeys in familiar situations with African American men. White monkeys are predominantly native to Asia but in this series of paintings represent “Americans” from the “African-American” vantage. I chose to reverse the image and meaning of “monkey” and redesign the overtly prejudiced term to be used to depict the terms creators.