DISCARDED SERIES

Ida B

Digital Medium • 3700× 5000 px

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

The Discarded Series

A love of antique photography spurred my Discarded series of works. I love antique stores and through the years I’ve often found myself sifting through bins filled with an array of formal portraits, family snap shots, polaroids, class photos, all mixed up, transfixed by the faces. Who are these people? What were their lives like? What happened to these families? And how did all these photos end up disposessed in a bin mixed with hundreds of other familes, on sale for a quarter apiece? I decided to start a series of paintings featuring these images, to give them new life and meaning. I’ve worked in multiple mediums for this series, including transparent watercolor, encaustic and collage.

Portrait of Milwaukee Progress

Young Honey

Ida B

Remember the day...

America

The Family Farm

The First Five

Picture Day

Arrivals

Ellis Island

Hot All Nite

Victoria

Strings

Awaiting

Farfalla

Family Portrait

The Girls Team

Faded Chalkboard Memories

Sordid

Enclosed

First Bloom

Jim Dandy

Last Regrets

Reconsider

The Spinster Sisters

Ginny remembers it different

It's up to her

And then I lost it

The Spinster Sisters Do Mexico