East First Street #1, Erased Lynching Series I, 2004-2006
“The series is notable for its conceptual use of digital technology (Photoshop) and its engagement with historic/archival images from my collection as well as from regional archives. I erased or removed the body of the lynching victim and the rope from historic lynching postcards and archival images of lynchings and then reproduced the image as a kind of facsimile or stand-in for the original. By erasing the victim’s bodies, I sought to create a visual experience that would force the viewer to see the "absence" as a presence and direct the viewer's focus on the crowd and in doing so, foreground the underlying racism and bias that was foundational to many of these acts of collective violence, which have increasingly come to be seen as central to understanding race and difference in America and to point to what Claudia Rankine has termed as the racial imaginary.
The series continues to raise awareness of this history, and is widely taught in art historical curriculums as a way of inviting viewers to see whiteness -- by drawing attention, not only to what is missing, absent, or erased but also to what is present, or becomes visible.”