Everyday People

In the last decade, “trauma porn” has become wildly common in the black community. Trauma porn is media that showcases a group’s pain and trauma in excessive amounts for the sake of entertainment. It’s a terrible device that constantly misconstrues the life of black people to other race groups and airs up the painful tragedies that black people have seen time and time again. “Trauma porn” is a tool used to gain traction and attention by creating shock value to the viewer while also perpetuating a narrative that the everyday lives of black people are rife with police brutality, racism, gun violence, sexual abuse, abduction, gang violence, and all the other awful things that do happen, but not in the daily life of an average black person. I have been very inspired by three artists: Kehinde Wiley, Mckalene Thomas, and Amy Sherald, and the way they exhibit black people without having to reference the black pain that is already known. In the last ten years, I have seen enough black trauma to keep me “woke” and terrifed for the rest of my life. Because of that, in my art, I do not want to create work that continues to amplify a problem that we all are aware exists, but instead create work that shows the calm parts of life as a black person, such as hair care, sexuality, or fashion. I want my work to be a pause from the constant war zone that the media portrays and give black people a chance to see themselves in it and provide a visual for other races to see us as more than victims or thugs or rioters but simply everyday people.