Fissure (Linea Negra series) Polyptych

The Fissured suite of photographs are a polyptych altarpiece (9 photographs) from the Linea Negra series. Depicting the Mama Spa Botanica workshop where the artist collaborates with black and brown pregnant people who cast their pregnant bodies in vernacular Mother Mold belly casts, the work and process illuminate reproductive health care structures. Installed in a quadratic tile arrangement, the photographs contrast the architectural fissures of dropped ceiling tiles seen in forensic hospital settings to the material consistency of plaster on skin. Shot in domestic settings where home births typically occur, the photographs document agency building workshops. Medically described, a fissure is an anatomical cleft or tear often associated with trauma during pregnancy and result in visual "stretchmarks" on the skin. Architecturally, a fissure is the texture most commonly applied to asbestos drop ceiling tiles found in institutional settings including hospitals- often the last image a black or brown mother will see before delivering her child.

The Linea Negra series photographs (2008-present) documents the inception of gender, power and race structures from slogans, slang, maxims and "old wives tales" to internalized, institutional violence. The works celebrate the melanin line appearing during gestation (most prominent in women of color) as a biological pieta; the first biographical mark on the procreative body and the first sign of our creative humanity.