“Meet Deryl. Keep your eye on him”
Instead of merely depicting figures, my work reveals what they carry.
The body holds growth and knowledge.
The landscape remembers.
The image becomes a psychological field.
The audience becomes a witness within the encounter.
Mixed media on canvas
31 × 32 in
2026
#MeetDeryl #BlackFiguration #PsychologicalField #ArtAsWitness #ContemporaryPainting
Title : 12.5 M
Medium: Oil sticks, acrylic paints, dyes, pencil, and pastels on found material
Dimensions: 6’ x 3’4”
Improvised on found material, this work layers figures, a fractured, divided Africa, and the haunting number 12.5 million — evoking the lives displaced during the transatlantic slave trade. The surface, already carrying its own history, becomes a stage where colonial power, cultural memory, and African identity collide. In this collision, the work asks how African identity might exist beyond European influence, asserting a vision that resists inherited dominance and claims its own psychic ground.
Work in progress — addressing displacement and plight of African people to Europe during the Transatlantic slave trade.
These pieces are part of an ongoing exploration of colonialism, slavery, racial violence, and systemic oppression.
In the first piece, I’m thinking through the dynamic between power and suffering. The colonial figures, dressed in red coats, smirk and point while a Black body hangs upside down. Their exaggerated expressions feel almost cartoonish, which contrasts with the weight of the moment. The shadowy figures in the background suggest agonizing fate of defeat.
The second piece expands on these themes. The central Black figure, bound and exposed, looms over two colonial characters who seem to be mocking …
I’m still working through these ideas, pushing myself to see where they lead.
Coming To America….life on the ship….hanging with White men…circa the Transatlantic slave trade…
