ENDURING SPIRIT

By presenting Black women as powerful figures rather than background characters, Enduring Spirit challenges viewers to look deeper, to recognize what has been endured, and to celebrate what has been given. In the end, the series is not about survival alone — it is about brilliance, dignity, and an enduring spirit that lights the way for generations to come.

Portraits and figurative works reflect cultural memory, dignity, and the strength carried through generations.

This collection reflects on cultural identity, memory, and the strength carried through generations. The figures are often presented with quiet dignity, their presence suggesting lives shaped by experience and perseverance.

The work draws from histories that continue to influence contemporary life. Through gesture, expression, and atmosphere, the images acknowledge the weight of the past while remaining grounded in the present moment.

These works invite viewers to reflect on the ways cultural memory travels through time. The figures embody a spirit that continues to endure, reminding us that identity is formed through both history and lived experience

Discomfiture | Charcoal | 37"x43"

In Discomfiture (Oversized Dreads), I use charcoal to explore how dreadlocks — like hoodies — are too often recast as symbols of fear when worn by Black people. Oversized and heavy, the locks obscure the face and bind the mouth, showing how stereotype silences individuality. Above, a storm of dark marks suggests the weight of judgment, suspicion, and control fed by the powerful. Rooted in African American art and shaped by contemporary art practices, this drawing is both portrait and protest, asking viewers to confront the irrational fears projected onto Black identity.

Black Man, Black Balled, Black Mailed, Black Man 54"x36" | Charcoal, Torn Paper

In Black Man, Black Balled, Black Mailed, Black Man, I use charcoal and the hooded figure to explore silence, suspicion, and survival. The hoodie, a garment many wear freely, becomes dangerous when worn by a Black man — a mark of criminality in the eyes of others. Dark strokes spread across the figure’s face like a muzzle, symbolizing how Black voices are muted and lives misread. Rooted in African American art and shaped by contemporary art practices, this piece is both portrait and protest, confronting the ways identity itself can be weaponized against us.

Peaches | Pastel, Charcoal | 40" By 60"

Peaches is Simone’s final character, the angry woman — and for me, the voice that refuses silence. Her hair explodes outward, untamed and electric, while her gaze is fierce and unyielding.

Contemporary music often flattens women like Peaches into tropes — the “angry Black woman,” a stereotype meant to silence. But here, I reclaim that fire as righteous. Her beauty is not diminished by her anger; it is sharpened by it. She is defiant, unapologetic, and necessary.

In creating Peaches, I thought of all the women in my life who carried that fire with grace, from my mother onward. This work honors their anger as a form of love — love for truth, justice, and survival.

Keywords: African American art, contemporary art, Tyrone Geter, Peaches, Nina Simone Four Women, portraiture, Black women in art, protest art.

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ENDURING SPIRIT

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