Above the Fruited Plain

Above the Fruited Plain investigates the relationship and historical significance between blackness and the environment, taking inspiration from experiences and identity as a first-generation Afro - Caribbean American woman. Through the exploration of major cash crops: sugar cane, cotton, and wood, this project use imagery to map the evolution of this relationship from antebellum into the current day. 

The process for this project began with research about cash crops that have made a significant impact on the lives of Black people in the Americas and West Indies. This was followed by the ideation of how to successfully communicate the ways in which the relationship between these crops and blackness did not end after the abolition of slavery but adapted into new and oppressive ways.

I chose to use appropriated imagery and text from historic black novelists and activists to serve as the script narrating the project. The final outputs include a triptych of posters each focusing on sugar cane, cotton and wood, each subsection of my research. Along with this, I created a zine to tell the story of this narrative in a way that can be accessible to all.