#000000/Smothered

#000000/Smothered was born from the raw pain and urgency following the 2019 assault of Jasmine Eiland at Opera, a nightclub in Midtown, Georgia, and the persistent epidemic of missing and murdered Black women and girls. The photographs depict my struggle to break free from an oppressive, suffocating veil of blackness that ensnares my body, capturing moments of straining against the restraints that bind me. The accompanying video presents intimate close-ups of my head, highlighting the contortions and gasps for air beneath the crushing weight of this darkness.

Black women and girls are disproportionately affected by violence—rape, murder, sexual and domestic abuse—yet their suffering is often overlooked. Justice is too frequently denied, not only due to systemic biases favoring white individuals but also because of stereotypes that depict Black women as strong and hyper-sexual, thereby dismantling their victimhood.