"Still Life for Black Peter" is a work created during my time at the Arts/Industry Residency in Foundry at Kohler. This still life, made almost entirely from cast brass pieces, reflects on the influence of the Dutch in art and colonialism. The tulips and Dutch wax prints are elements of global trade economies, while the shell and the tropical fruits recall Dutch colonization of the Caribbean. The head of a young Black child, instead of a skull, represents the opposite of a memento mori - a reminder that he should live and thrive. The name Black Peter is a formal renaming of "Black Pete", the controversial figure still present in Dutch celebrations of Christmas. This work is in the collection of the John Michael Kohler Art Center and was shown at the "Winterthur Transformed" exhibition at Winterthur Museum in 2024.
