HOPE RIVER

1. 

   WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ (detail 2), 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, 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

   • 1
     WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm
   • 2
     WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm
   • 3
     WHITE SUBTLETIEZZZZ, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, and a found object on paper, 114 x 110cm
   • 4
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 1), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm
   • 5
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 2), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm
   • 6
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 3), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm
   • 7
     EYEZZZ WHYZZZ (detail 4), Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, oil pastel, synthetic hair, and a comb on unstretched canvas, 283 x 100cm

   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.

   -

2. 

   HAUNTED HOUSE, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper, and bandage on paper, 62 X 41cm

   

   FOOD, FLESH, FAT, LOSS OF CONTROL, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper and bandage on board, 42 x 29.7cm

   

   BLACK MOLASSES CARRYING ME BACK, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, print, and bandage on paper, 170 x 19cm

   

   TO BE STRONG, BLACK, AND BEAUTIFULLY WHITE II, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper, and pen on canvas board, 35.5 x 46cm

   

   TO BE STRONG, BLACK, BUT BEAUTIFULLY WHITE, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper and pen on paper, 42 x 58cm

   

   Untitled, Hope River, 2024, pencil on paper, 42 x 29.7cm

   

   Untitled, Hope River, 2024, pencil on paper, 42 x 29.7cm

   • 1

     HAUNTED HOUSE, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper, and bandage on paper, 62 X 41cm

   • 2

     FOOD, FLESH, FAT, LOSS OF CONTROL, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper and bandage on board, 42 x 29.7cm

   • 3

     BLACK MOLASSES CARRYING ME BACK, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, print, and bandage on paper, 170 x 19cm

   • 4

     TO BE STRONG, BLACK, AND BEAUTIFULLY WHITE II, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper, and pen on canvas board, 35.5 x 46cm

   • 5

     TO BE STRONG, BLACK, BUT BEAUTIFULLY WHITE, Hope River, 2024, Acrylic, paper and pen on paper, 42 x 58cm

   • 6

     Untitled, Hope River, 2024, pencil on paper, 42 x 29.7cm

   • 7

     Untitled, Hope River, 2024, pencil on paper, 42 x 29.7cm

   BLACK WOMEN SUFFER FROM ANOREXIA TOO

   10 years ago I had a friend called anorexia.

   Anorexia sat alone in a haunted house.

   Too afraid to move around,

   everything felt dangerous.

   Food, flesh, fat, loss of control,

   she was desperate to become a ghost.

   To become one with the house,

   to be the one who conjured fear,

   to be strong, black, but beautifully white.

    

   10 years ago a Weetabix saved my life.

   The haunted house was nearly empty.

   Anorexia now moved around in euphoria,

   weighing in at 29 kilograms,

   everything was nothing.

   She was invincible,

   ghost-like, god-like.

   Just one last move to make,

   just one last organ to play,

   to be strong, black, but beautifully white.

    

   10 years ago anorexia struck my heart.

   All but the sense of sound abandoned me.

   Unconscious,

   swimming in the primordial sound of my heartbeat.

   Something woke me,

   them, before us.

   Wholeheartedly holding a spoon and a Weetabix to my mouth,

   black molasses carrying me back.

   -