Project Noose: Unidentified

Project Noose: Unidentified addresses the systematic abuse of Black bodies. The extrajudicial, not legally authorized, killings of Black bodies have not become obsolete, only the method in which lynching occurs. More than 4,000 Blacks were lynched across twenty states the years of 1877 and 1950. According to Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), "Lynching’s were violent and public acts of torture that traumatized Black people throughout the country and were largely tolerated by state and federal officials. These lynching were terrorism. ‘Terror lynching’ peaked between 1880 and 1940 and claimed the lives of African American men, women, and children who were forced to endure the fear, humiliation, and barbarity of this widespread phenomenon unaided… each lynching or near-lynching instilled an overwhelming sense of fear and terror in African Americans." [1] Black are still healing from the erroneous treatment of their ancestors and are working to rectify the transgenerational traumas that continued after the emancipation of slaves. James Allen’s authored book, “Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America,” the research accumulated from the EJI and Black historical and contemporary plight manifested the creation of this series. While the murderous act of lynching stripped beings of life, it too simultaneously left “anonymous branches in family trees” and archived that heinous practice as one that classified Black bodies as “Unidentified.” Lynching today wears the mask of mass incarceration, police brutality, racism, gentrification, unequal distribution of wealth, among other tactics that eradicate Black lives and culture.

Americans should not shy away from this vile history because lynching is ongoing. Project Noose: Unidentified uses three main symbols in its work: The Black body, clay, and rope. The clay was used on the black body and on the surface of the silver gelatin prints. It pays homage to the vast lands where lynching occurred historically across America. The deterioration of the clay on the prints intends to portray a sense of time. The rope directly references lynching through the way it hangs but it also symbolizes oppression. The Black bodies’ heads are covered to show Black Americans have anonymous ancestral bodies who were martyrs on their path for liberation. We stand on the bodies of Black Gold who prayed for a better future.

1. Lynching in America: Confronting the Legacy of Racial Terror. Equal Justice Initiative, 2017.