She sat in the kitchen, cast in iron, carved in stereotype. A silent witness in my childhood home. She who had become a trademark for comfort food in the homes of many. She who had a name but was known as Aunt Jemima, Mammy, anything but Ms.Green.
Nancy Green, a former slave in Montgomery County, Kentucky. She was the first to portray the fabricated character and was known for her engaging personality and storytelling.
I grew up with her. Her face was familiar before her history was known to me. She was simply part of the kitchen, part of the scenery, part of the little details that quietly make a childhood. I did not yet understand the history behind her image or the discomfort woven into its creation. I only knew what I had been given: a familiar face, an object of domestic life, a story I had never thought to question.
It is interesting what time and understanding can do to a memory. How something once ordinary can become unfamiliar. How the things we grew up beside can reveal entirely different stories when we finally have the language to understand them.
This painting is my way of returning to that memory. Not to dismiss it, or to reduce it to something entirely good or bad, but to sit with its complexity. To acknowledge the discomfort while allowing room for curiosity, reflection, and conversation. I want to tell the story of the woman behind the image, the history behind the familiarity, and the distance between who Nancy Green was and the character she was made to represent.
There is something meaningful about looking closely at the things we would otherwise overlook. The objects that occupied our homes, the images that watched us grow, the traditions we inherited without knowing their origins. They are often where the most unexpected stories live.
Part of my recent series, Rooted in the Undoing, this work explores the stories that raised me and the ones I am rewriting. It is truth-telling through the seemingly little things. A visual representation of the memories, objects, and moments that were braided into me like movies.
I am sharing this piece because I want to tell its story, and because I believe art can create space for stories that are unfamiliar, uncomfortable, complicated, or long overlooked. I invite viewers to look beyond the image, explore the history, and consider what it means to encounter something familiar through an entirely new lens.
Sometimes, understanding begins with allowing ourselves to remain curious about the things that make us uncomfortable. Sometimes, the stories we need to hear are the ones we never knew were there.
Mixed Media
2025
She sat in the kitchen, cast in iron, carved in stereotype. A silent witness in my childhood home. She who had become a trademark for comfort food in the homes of many. She who had a name but was known as Aunt Jemima, Mammy, anything but Ms.Green.
Nancy Green, a former slave in Montgomery County, Kentucky. She was the first to portray the fabricated character and was known for her engaging personality and storytelling.
I grew up with her. Her face was familiar before her history was known to me. She was simply part of the kitchen, part of the scenery, part of the little details that quietly make a childhood. I did not yet understand the history behind her image or the discomfort woven into its creation. I only knew what I had been given: a familiar face, an object of domestic life, a story I had never thought to question.
It is interesting what time and understanding can do to a memory. How something once ordinary can become unfamiliar. How the things we grew up beside can reveal entirely different stories when we finally have the language to understand them.
This painting is my way of returning to that memory. Not to dismiss it, or to reduce it to something entirely good or bad, but to sit with its complexity. To acknowledge the discomfort while allowing room for curiosity, reflection, and conversation. I want to tell the story of the woman behind the image, the history behind the familiarity, and the distance between who Nancy Green was and the character she was made to represent.
There is something meaningful about looking closely at the things we would otherwise overlook. The objects that occupied our homes, the images that watched us grow, the traditions we inherited without knowing their origins. They are often where the most unexpected stories live.
Part of my recent series, Rooted in the Undoing, this work explores the stories that raised me and the ones I am rewriting. It is truth-telling through the seemingly little things. A visual representation of the memories, objects, and moments that were braided into me like movies.
I am sharing this piece because I want to tell its story, and because I believe art can create space for stories that are unfamiliar, uncomfortable, complicated, or long overlooked. I invite viewers to look beyond the image, explore the history, and consider what it means to encounter something familiar through an entirely new lens.
Sometimes, understanding begins with allowing ourselves to remain curious about the things that make us uncomfortable. Sometimes, the stories we need to hear are the ones we never knew were there.
Mixed Media
2025
