THIS WAS A SERIES OF WORKS made in response to the growing awareness of police brutality in the African-American community. The premise was based upon my own feelings about race- one’s skin color is completely arbitrary and the fact that people still discriminate against others or make it one’s defining characteristic is a silly and archaic idea to me.

The sambo coupled with Oswald is meant to evoke the imagery that was prevalent in the mainstream during Jim Crow. There are the sambo tchotchkes and minstrel performances that depicted Black Americans during the time in a pejorative fashion. Then there is the Lucky Rabbit, the predecessor for the Mouse, who is supposed to represent an old way of thinking.

The scenes depicted are events typical of the Jim Crow era. All these elements coalesce into a familiar enough series where a newer generation can learn from and approach and discuss a bit easier with it it’s illustrative and playful nature, yet familiar enough for an older generation to even share personal accounts.