Midnight Marley

This painting is Part 1 to my series called “The Unraveling Series”. It is apart of a series that is continuing and based off of emotions. It opens up the conversation to mental health in the black community. The black community represented through the hair, done by alcohol marker. The skull, used to symbolize a deep level of exposure to what is going on inside the mind is uncomfortable to many people to look at but has open the door to that conversation. On the outside, the unraveling face shows a man yelling in all of the beautiful chaos around him. The goal of this piece was to display an emotion of intense confusion. I use the color blue as a symbol of that emotion. The background, inspired by Kehinde Wiley, portrays three symbolic flowers that aid in the meaning of the whole thing. The first flower is the “Water Lily” to symbolize a sense of peace to give to his chaotic situation. The second flower is the “Daffodil” to provide hope in the midst of chaos. The last flower is the “Soapwort” flower which sticks out as orange because it symbolizes confusion and confusion around him. Every corner of this piece is painted to immerse the subject into the emotion and immerse the audience into what they are seeing.