Bloodline

4” x 6” opened case

2017

colored pencil, acrylic, velvet, brass, wood

This image depicts a white and black male couple, unified by a burning red horizon and a diagonal red line—a bloodline that binds them together.  I envision them as men who have sought sanctuary in each other, and I wrote a poem reminiscent of a black Christian spiritual, titled “Bloodline,” about this work:  “A confluence of blood has united our fates, / For the City of Rivers has opened her gates. / Within our bodies, formed of ashes and stone, / We are brother to brother; we are one, not alone. // No longer will sinnets become klansmen’s rope, / Nor will chains of our past shackle our hope. / In the cinders of hatred, seeds of love have been sown. / We are brother to sister; we are one, not alone.”