Black People Don’t Hang Themselves

“Black People Don’t Hang Themselves” | Oil on canvas 2026. 

A dystopia reimagined as a utopia.

This piece explores the uncomfortable history of Black people found hanging from trees like recently with universities students dismissed as sucicides and awful cases involving water like Nolan Wells. It confronts the weight of that history while imagining something different: freedom, peace, and the ability to simply exist without fear.

I love painting water because I love the feeling of being immersed in nature. There’s something about being surrounded by water that gives me a sense of peace. But my relationship with water is also complicated by history. For my ancestors, water carries a very different meaning, deeply intertwined with the transatlantic slave trade, forced journeys, and generations of trauma.

In this painting, I wanted to reclaim that relationship. To imagine water as a place of liberation rather than suffering. The feminine pink tones introduce softness, and femininity into a subject rooted in trauma.

There’s an intentional juxtaposition between the title and the world within the painting. One forces you to confront a reality. The other invites you to paint a different one.