Obedience
Oil on wood panel 48" x 72"
Removed from their home and cultural identity, given only certain sources of information, the enslaved African people were forced to be reliant and obedient. A critique of sources of control, such as Charles Jones’s religious instruction manual of 1842, the painting shows the aftermath of manipulation, symbolized by the strangler fig tree. The strangler fig reaches out and consumes everything until it depletes all the nutrients of the Garden of Eve, leaving behind its insidious red fruit. Obedience serves as a call to action, for the future generation are looking to us for guidance.
