Description
“MICHIGAN: The Great Divide” (acrylic paint, oil/wax crayon, and pencil on heavy watercolor paper) considers Michigan as both the Great Lakes State and a portrait of America’s widening social, racial, environmental, and political divides. Referencing Diego Rivera’s Detroit Industry murals, the work recalls Detroit’s manufacturing might and the laboring communities—including Black families who arrived during the Great Migration—that built its industrial economy. It also confronts the aftermath of industrial power: the Flint water crisis, economic displacement, and the resentments that have fueled political polarization. The Mackinac Bridge, linking Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas, offers a counterpoint—a symbol of connection and the hope that the country’s own entrenched divides might yet be bridged.
