“Combustible” is a series of works based on the James Baldwin quote, “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage, almost all of the time — and in one’s work.”
James Baldwin said this more than 60 years ago, and in far too many ways, nothing has changed. It’s infuriating. It’s sad. It’s exhausting.
This series is about that constant rage that’s always under the surface for a lot of Black people and attempting to suppress it and questioning why we feel we need to in the first place. It’s about that moment just before the eruption and making a decision about whether you’re going to keep it in, or if it will finally reach a critical mass where the explosion is inevitable.
Do you want to keep yourself and your loved ones safe, or keep that job, or save that relationship, or do you let it consume you and you deal with the consequences afterward. Being in a constant state of “fight or flight” is taxing and makes how that rage is manifested and channeled unpredictable.
These works are an exploration of that feeling, that moment, just before what comes next.
