In this piece, Wiley is empowering black women. Based on the title, I'd like to think that there is an allusion to the piece Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi rather than the piece Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio due to the difference in how active the women are in their respective roles. In Judith Slaying Holofernes, Judith doesn't shy away from the murderous act, portraying her as powerful. Here in this artwork by Wiley, the woman is also confidently portraying her actions. She looks straight at the viewer while posing in a graceful but strong manner as she holds a detached head. Since this piece is very much based on the story of Judith and Holofernes, which is a tale of revenge, the woman holding the white head of someone (who I have no idea who it could be as of writing this) could be symbolic of black women reclaiming their place in the artworld and rising from the struggles they have faced during enslavement and the ones in the present. It's a very uplifting piece I would say.

With the explanation above, Wiley's Judith and Holofernes is my favorite piece in this gallery.

Initially when I looked at this piece I thought this piece was about the evolution of Black identity and how it cannot be contained into one singular identity. I thought this because of how the man's face looks as if it's constantly changing, representing the different faces he puts on based on the environment around him. This idea was further cemented when I read the title to this piece.

However, looking into the background of this piece some more, I came to the realization that this piece was part of Kaphar's exhibition The Jerome Project, in which its main focus was depicting black incarcerated men and to bring focus towards prison reform. With this in mind, I looked back at the artwork in a different perspective.

Now when I look at the artwork, two interpretations come to mind. With the overlay of what seems to be three faces, one way I interpreted this piece is that it represents the effect prison life has on an incarcerated man and how unjust and long the sentences given to Black men tend to be. I thought this because the top half of the faces look younger than the one at the bottom half, which is further contrasted with the graphite. The second interpretation was that the piece actually contains three separate man, and that they are all overlayed one after the other because they share similar fates.

After learning what I did in regards to the previous piece, I feel like this piece speaks out about police brutality, especially since it came from the same exhibition.

Here the people are whitewashed, but their shapes are vaguely indicated by thin black outlines. Most of them are not completely covered either, as you can see the upper half of the two people in the foreground. Other than that, you can't really make out who these people are and where they're from other than what we can gather based off of their skin color.

For me, the combination of the chaotic brushstrokes, the crowd's actions, and the lack of visible facial features reminds me of protests against police brutality and how hard African Americans have to fight in order to be remembered as a person and to receive justice after falling victim to brute police force. While this piece was made in 2014, it sadly still holds a lot weight today.

With this being the final piece of the gallery, this one is the piece that really troubles me the most because it reminds me of how much more needs to be done in regards towards prison and police reform.