Where is Your Fire?

Gift of the artist, 2021

Image description:
A rusty, old-fashioned metal lantern stands on a wooden shelf, giving off a faint pinkish glow from the U-shaped red neon tube that has replaced its flame. An electrical cord runs down the wall from the shelf. (written by Andrea Noonoo)

“I wanted to explore the cowboy because of my own personal lineage, because of what it means to my family heritage. My mother’s side of the family are cowboys, Black cowboys. How that works within identity, and how I understand that identity and how it impacts my perception of my race and ethnicity and place as an American, and my place as a male-bodied person in the United States, and a Black-bodied person in the United States.”

Emmanuel Muñoz, “Brent Holmes in Conversation with Emmanuel Muñoz,” Brent Holmes: Behold a Pale Horse (Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art, 2021)