Greenwood Rising from the Embers

2021

Pen and ink on vellum, 3’ x 6’

Qatar America Institute of Culture, Doha, Qatar & Washington D.C.

Fallen giants, trees uprooted from storms, fragmented wreckage recomposed into new realities, a future built from the ruins of the past, soaring, the spirit refusing to be wiped out, the flames bursting into new blooms.

Fractured Cosmos Drawings I & Fractured Cosmos Drawings II

Author Phetote Mshairi featured Greenwood Rising on the cover of his 2021 anthology Release Me: The Sprits of Greenwood Speak, and details of my drawing were reproduced in large scale on columns at every terminal at the Tulsa International Airport.

Greenwood Rising from the Embers, like much of my work, looks to moments of transition and metamorphosis. Felled trees, uprooted from storms and rent asunder, provide fertile ground for new growth. Greenwood Rising evokes the theme of my Greenwood Art Project, commemorating the Tulsa Race Massacre centennial. Here, the red and orange elements suggest the firebombs that destroyed Tulsa’s vibrant Greenwood neighborhood in 1921. Yet the embers transmute as hope blooms in forms evoking marigold flowers. While formally recalling fiery destruction of people’s homes, the iconographically-rich blossoms also suggest regeneration in the wake of tragedy. From the Mexican Day of the Dead to South Asian festivals, marigolds signal moments of ritual. As birds fly up from a fallen giant, scattering in all directions, Greenwood Rising suggests the soaring spirit of renewal. Flames burst into new buds: a future built from the ruins of the past.