As an undergraduate, my primary paper, “Re-envisioning Blackface: Michael Ray Charles and Disidentification,” has focused on the incorporation of blackface memorabilia in contemporary art and subversive strategies employed by artists to combat the heavily charged and historic imagery of blackface memorabilia and the black male entertainer.

I will further my studies at Northwestern University in pursuit of a PhD in Art History. Along with continuing to study representations of race in contemporary art, I hope to further my research interests to include representations of hip-hop in contemporary culture, evaluating the evolution of the black male entertainer from the historical role of “Sambo,” to the representations of contemporary hip-hop icons found in the work of artists such as David Scheibaum, Alex Melamid and Kehinde Wiley.