Reciprocity

The first painting from the volume three portfolio bridges the traumatic events of the past with the social woes of the present. In the foreground of this composition, which is loosely based on a description of the practice of breaking the spirit of resistant slaves found in the historical document, the Willie Lynch Letter. In the foreground two men are being torn apart by two opposing  forces pulling the American Flag. On the one hand we see a Klansman on a black horse which symbolizes riding the backs of African people. On the other we see a naked black woman riding a white horse which symbolizes her displacement as the head of the family structure. She is forcefully given the role of the heroin or a feminine Lone Ranger. In the background we see a city skyline which blends into a rural landscape that speaks to the lingering negative ef-fects of the displaced black family structure.