Negro

Negro” came to life when I was digging deep into who I am and where I come from. Being the child of a White mother and a Black father, I’ve always felt like I was straddling two worlds but fully belonging to neither. Too Black to be White, too White to be Black. My connection to African or African-American culture was distant, filtered through music, movies, and what I saw on TV, never something I lived or breathed firsthand.

I spent most of my life surrounded by people who didn’t look like me. I was always the “other,” always drifting between spaces where I didn’t quite fit. But I found real people along the way—friends who stuck around, some still here. Yet no matter what, society has a way of reminding you where it thinks you should stand. That’s where “Negro” was born—a reflection of something you’re supposed to be, something society tries to box you into, even when you have no real connection to it.

The word “Negro” carries so many heavy, stereotypical images—racist in how it defines Blackness. In the same way, the world puts expectations on me, shaping me into something I’m not. This painting is my response to that, reflecting the struggle between what’s expected and who I choose to be.

Now, I’ve let go of trying to be what anyone else thinks I should be. I’m neither fully Black nor fully White. I’m just me, moving through life on my own terms, outside the labels, outside the boxes. That kind of freedom is real, but there’s a loneliness that comes with it—a quiet isolation in defining yourself on your own terms, without any map to guide you.

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EXIT