Portfolio > The 436 Project

Indigo Bess and her children
indigo-dyed osnaburg, cotton, wire, jute, mini glass bottles, sequin, twigs, cotton bolls, acrylic, rice, crystals, beads, shells, screen-printed archival image on cotton, embroidery hoops, handwoven and crochet, installation view dimensions varied.
installation view, dimensions varied
2025
Primus
dyed-osnaburg, screen-print on osnaburg, twigs glass bottles, beads, shells, twigs, cotton bolls, acrylic paint, cotton cord, sequin, wire,
16” x 6” x5”, detailed view
2024
First Family
osnaburg, cotton, jute, beads, shells, twigs, wire, sequin, indigo-dyed yarn, glass bottles, sequin, handwoven and crochet, installation view, dimensions varied.
installation view
2023
Miss Hagar
dyed-osnaburg, cotton bolls, twigs, mini glass bottles, jute, shells, beads, wire, hand-woven, crochet.
3’x 9”x 9”
2025
01.	Daphaney and her baby
screen print on osnaburg, jute, cotton, wire, mini glass bottles, glass beads, sequin, lace, crystals, handwoven and crochet.
29”x5”x 4” and 66” x8”x 5”
2024
Lazarus
cotton, jute, archival text screen printed on osnaburg, mini glass bottles, beads, shells, metallic cord, handwoven, crochet, hand stitched.
4’x 10” x 5”,
2024
Rentee and Suky
plaint-stained and screen-print on osnaburg, cotton, wire, glass bottles, sequin, shells, jute, handwoven, hand-quilted, handstitched and crochet.
approx..23” x11” x 8” each
2025

My ongoing project, 436, is a large-scale installation informed by an 1859 slave auction catalog. The catalog lists each person by name and numbers 1 through 436, the order in which they went onto the auction block. This was one of the largest slave auctions in U.S. history.

Upon completion, the installation will include a sound work and 436 mixed-media, textile-based sculptures- embodying and amplifying the stories of each enslaved person listed in the catalog.

As the sculptures are created, they are exhibited in groups of two or more.

Through this work, I am creating an evolving universe, paying homage to my own enslaved ancestors and opening a portal to experience a dignified remembering of these once dehumanized people and their little-known stories.