Masked
I grew up one of the only African American children in a small town in the Pacific Northwest in the 70's. I grew up uncomfortable, bullied and called names by the all white community I lived in, and uncomfortable around African Americans because I was not used to their way of life. The internal imprint I received very young was based on what I saw happening in the community I lived in. The skin I was born with was always what people saw first. I grew up in-between. My coping mechanism was to mask true self to fit whatever environment I found myself in. This body of work depicts the mask literally with ceramic clay. My black self and my white self. Masked.
