By Felicita Maynard

I create artwork to further understand myself and, in turn, to uncover the forgotten stories of my ancestors. My work focuses on themes revolving around Afro-futurism, the black body, spirituality and gender identity/sexuality. I look to dismantle history's romance with the exploitation of Black bodies by non-Black protagonists by way of images. I use Black bodies to challenge institutional stereotypes as well as to show the diversity within the Black identity.

With my research, I am interested in creating a positive imagery regarding how the Black body has been portrayed by methods of early photography, specifically wet plate photography. In doing so I want to change the narrative that has been put in place by early ethnographic and anthropometric images made of Black bodies by historical hierarchies.

This project is an exploration of kink references by way of my own body but also a documentation of other individuals of color who practice the lifestyle. By combining the use of early techniques with more contemporary ones, like Polaroid and tintypes, I am interested in how POC navigate this environment and underground community that usually does not represent them.