A re-discovery of my older project titled Man of Mask & Empathy. Man of Mettle is a large-scale self-portrait sitting at 34x44 inches. The piece is four 17x22 prints joined together to make a cohesive image. The work sparks conversation regarding the prejudice used against Black and African Americans within the working field. The prejudice against a minority due to the appearance or the way one speaks. Hence a mask is applied, a form of codeswitching. A code switch where we must speak in ways that are unnatural and change the pitch of our voice to appear intelligent or as a ‘non-threat’. The separated prints represent the divide in character that points at internal and external conflict. 

Scroll down to see the video & the space.