Fathers

“Fathers”, wood and acrylic 2024. This piece represents a defining moment in my life: my first trip back to France as a young teen to meet my father at a pivotal time in my transition to manhood. The two standing wooden pieces, marked with notches, symbolize the contrasting heights of my father and myself at that moment. These notches serve as markers of distance—physical, emotional, and generational—highlighting the space between us and the time we had lost.

The wood I use in this piece comes from a dock in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where many African American families, including my own, worked after leaving the South during the Great Migration. These families sought new opportunities and a better life in the Northeast, and the dock was one of many sites where they rebuilt their lives. The wood is not only a material but a connection to the stories of my grandfather and others who worked there, as well as to the broader history of migration, labor, and survival.

In creating this piece, I aim to repair the disconnect between my generation and the one before me, those who worked to carve out a better life. While these objects no longer have practical use in our daily lives, they carry a deep historical significance. In African American culture, these found objects—much like oral traditions—hold power in connecting us to the past, offering a way to remember and honor those who came before us.

“Fathers” is an exploration of memory and identity, where objects serve as silent storytellers. Through this work, I seek to bridge the gap between generations, honoring the unseen labor and the stories embedded in these materials.