The Black Cowboy: Reframed  

The next phase in my Black Cowboy collection of paintings, The Black Cowboy: Reframed aims to capture the energy of early black cinema and the ongoing tension between erasure vs exposure; self-representation vs external representation, and the related subjects that define so much of the black experience in North America. 

I've been fascinated by the lives of Isom Dart, John Ware, and Bill Pickett, lesser-known black men who were figures in the North American cattle-wrangling and Western riding culture of the 18th and 19th century. Despite there being authentic black ranchers and cowboys at this time, black actors were often overlooked as leads and cast in derogatory and stereotypical roles instead. Studio founder, writer and director Richard E. Norman was inspired to change this. He advocated to include black casts starring in dignified and representative roles and sought out intriguing locals across America to star in his films. I've been particularly intrigued by Bill Pickett, a travelling-rodeo performer turned actor starring in The Bull-Dogger, a silent black and white film centred on his special cattle-wrestling technique of the same name. Unfortunately, only one minute of the film has be preserved.

 
The Black Cowboy: Reframed is my way of filling in the gaps of The Bull-Dogger while also shedding light on the early history of black filmmaking. The collection includes my imagining of film reels and movie posters and more of Norman’s all black cast films, across the mediums of watercolour, painting and collage. With this body of work, I hope to honour the legacies of overlooked figures in history while also encouraging audiences to reflect on stories we choose to preserve and those we allow to disappear.