“White Friends Go For A Walk”

Acrylic and Vinyl on Canvas, 36x48in, 2020.

“During this past spring in quarantine, I took many, many walks through South Pasadena. On each walk, I felt such a tension between the absolute physical beauty of this place, and the lived injustices of so many people who live here. This tension is part of being white; knowing that many of the things that I love, or that have been given to me, simultaneously come at someone else’s expense.” - October 2020

At the time I made this, I was also thinking about how we as white people can land in this state of exasperation that, although a normal part of our antiracist growth, isn’t always helpful.

Importantly, this painting is not meant to place white people in a position of shame. It is just meant to shed light on these dynamics. Grappling with these tensions and contradictions is part of developing an antiracist identity + practice.

Read my most recent writing (and see other resources) about this topic here.