HOPE RIVER

1. 

   HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm

   

   HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm

   

   HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm

   

   HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ (detail 3), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm

   

   WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm

   

   WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm

   

   WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm

   

   EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm

   

   EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm

   

   EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 3), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm

   

   EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 4), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm

   

   TEDDY BEARZ PICNIC, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, pastel, oil pastel, bamboo sticks, and split pins on unstretched canvas and paper, 114 x 73cm

   • 1
     HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm
   • 2
     HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm
   • 3
     HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm
   • 4
     HAUNTED POINT: THE MAGICAL NEGREZZ (detail 3), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, split pins, and a found object on paper, 178 x 70cm
   • 5
     WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm
   • 6
     WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm
   • 7
     WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm
   • 8
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm
   • 9
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm
   • 10
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 3), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm
   • 11
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 4), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm
   • 12
     TEDDY BEARZ PICNIC, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, pastel, oil pastel, bamboo sticks, and split pins on unstretched canvas and paper, 114 x 73cm

   AT THE END OF THE WOODS IS A BLACK PERSON WITH ALL THE ANSWERS

   If you go down in the woods tonight,

   you’re gonna be traumAtised.

   If you go down in the woods tonight,

   you’d better not be anaesthetised.

   For every Black that ever there was

   will gather there together because,

   tonight’s the night Blacks receive reparations.

    

   If you go down in the woods tonight,

   say goodbye to having it all.

   If you down in the woods tonight,

   watch crumble them white wAlls,

   For every Black that ever there was

   will Gather there together because,

   tonight’s the night Blacks give to theMselves.

    

   If you go down in the woods tonight,

   forget hunting for that negro magic.

   If you go down in the woods tonight,

   ain’t any hoodoo cos you’re tragic.

   For every Black that ever there was

   will gather there together because,

   tonight’s the night Blacks are having their picnic.

   -

2. WORKING TWICE AS HARD TO GET HALF OF WHAT THEY HAVE

   White desks,

   white faces,

   white screens,

   white lights,

   white walls,

   white windows,

   white doors,

   white cupboards,

   white draws.

   A scene against a black wall,

   a blackboard for white chalk.

    

   Under my white desk I see,

   white sockets,

   white wires,

   foresee a white hat,

   declaring electricity is white.

   I wipe my salted white tears,

   use a white tissue,

   and speak the unspoken.

   “I have to work twice as hard as white people to get half of what they have.”

   A passenger seat to Whiteville,

   but lawed by a black seatbelt.

    

   The plot is clear,

   I’m no white girl walking through the looking glass,

   our reality is a horror movie.

   Starring not only Black Jesus in whiteface,

   but Black women everywhere,

   fighting the monster within,

   fed by the white words

   “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

    

   Today,

   when we’re done with

   white paper,

   white tape,

   white erasers.

   We’ll roll back our Black eyezzz,

   commune with white bread,

   succumb to this all-white vision,

   spit some tribal mumbo jumbo,

   and unleash her,

   the monster within.

   -