Abstract
The image is of a woman of African descent who is wearing a colorful headdress which cascades down one side of her head to her tattered sweater. One eye is blind. The other eye has a target over it with her eye looking to the side. The target represents the world looking at her, targeting/labeling her because of the color of her skin, and it also represents her looking out into the world focusing intently on the future. Her eye is looking to the side engaging the periphery; she is ready and fully aware of her surroundings. Pending on the situation, she knows how to engage with the world.
Keywords
art, Black Lives Matter
Artist Statement
I was inspired to name this piece Keep Your Eye on the Prize from a folk song that became influential during the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. It is based on the traditional song, Gospel Plow from Alan Lomax’s 1949 book Our Singing Country, the song was also known as Hold On, Keep Your Hand on the Plow, and various permutations thereof stemming from the early twentieth century and attributed to the African-American community. The first known reference is from the book English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians published in 1917 and again in 1928 in the book American Negro Folk-Songs which reflects the African-American heritage from the original song.
Media
Mixed Media – acrylic, oil, oil enamel spray paint, ink, pastel, yarn, sewing thread, embroidery thread, crochet thread on canvas
Image
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Citation
Wilkins, G. T. (2022). Black lives matter: Keep your eyes on the prize. The International Journal of Equity and Social Justice in Higher Education, 1. https://doi.org/10.56816/2771-1803.1015
Artist Statement and Description