Artwork Description
Clarence Heyward – Deep Dive
Dimensions: 21 x 21″ paper / 18 x 18″ plate
Year: 2023
Medium: lithograph on paper
Edition: 3/30
A profound voice in the realities of contemporary Blackness in America, Clarence Heyward uses chroma key green instead of black skin to remind us of our own projections upon Black people. He renders his own daughter in a swimming pool, as a reminder of what it felt like when he and his family entered the swimming pool at the New Orleans Four Seasons Resort, and everyone else—all white—got of the pool. The history of being Black and unwelcomed in swim settings runs deep and he feels people should be able to walk in his shoes.
After the incident, Heyward’s young daughter asked why all the people left when they got into the pool. Heyward had to explain this racist action to his daughter. After he explained the reason, he added that the worst part of the situation was that while he had to explain to her, it was likely a conversation was never had between the families that left and their own children. In “Deep Dive,” Heyward adds the word “Dive” as an affirmation of courage and determination for his daughter’s future.
Though Clarence is brand new on the contemporary art scene, two museums have already purchased his work and offered him exhibitions–the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh, and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. The Harvey Gantt Center for African American Art and Culture exhibited his work in 2022.