Will Brown Project-Act II 2006
Cotton rope, tree branch, crushed charcoal, white chalk, audio/video projection

In Act II I started with braiding 243 strands of rope three at a time eventually make its way down to one large single braid. This converging braid is metaphorical of the mob mentality. What started as 200 young high school aged boys grew into a mob of 20,000 people over the course of ten hours on September 28 th, 1919. The collective action of each mob member culminates into the single horrific act of a lynching. Eventually these braids converge down into branches and one solitary body-like trunk. The bottom of the braid frays out like roots into a mound of broken up black charcoal. The charcoal reflects on the fact that often victims of a lynching are not only hanged but also set on fire much like the image of William Brown in the projected image. After being hanged Will Brown was shot hundreds of times full of bullets. Left over chalk that was a part of the courthouse project has been scattered over the black charcoal like bullet shells on the ground. Irony lies in using white cotton rope to create a numerous series of hangman’s nooses, as many slaves worked the cotton fields in the South. The projection is the horrific photo that shows Will Brown’s body on fire as people look on.