Following my presentation on Theaster Gates, I decided that I would use this installation to comment on the criminal justice system. According to the NAACP, “One out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison.” To depict this statistic, I used a branch to reference society and three flowers: one flower is restrained (tied) to society by a leaf, and the other two flowers are deliberately placed freely alongside the confined flower.
Beautifully done, but a heartbreaking statistic. And what is that sculpture in the background?
Your sculpture is really interesting. Your execution on the 1 restricted flower is very well done, as the brighter green wrapping draws my eye to the chained, smaller flower. One suggestion I have for your piece is to play with the background more. Since your composition is about the rate black men are being sent to prison, you can use the lines between the prison to represent cell bars and confine the restricted flower to in between the lines while the freer flowers can be given more space/angled over the grid-like background since they’re operating “above” the realm of prison.