Painting: Gentrification, Lovelessness, Contrasts

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WsmRoqN36iG8sheJM29reEoLaF1bq5Ct/view?usp=drive_link




Lillian Anderson  

Doctor Harris 

English 2017 

30 April 2025 

Painting: Gentrification, Lovelessness, Contrasts 

The painting I did for this major project revolves around the theme of gentrification and  the manifestation of lovelessness in an abandoned African American community. I used a  combination of ideas and themes from Sula as well as my personal experiences to create my  artwork. I took photos from my great grandfather’s hometown of Wisner to use the abandoned  houses as references for my painting because he lives in an isolated and partially abandoned  community.  

The scene features an abandoned African American community, and I purposely tried to  use dull colors to express the lack of life and culture in this community. In the background of the  painting, I painted a cityscape that symbolizes modernization, gentrification, and the loss of  African American culture and community, where those tight-knit communities are lost, as  discussed at the end of Sula. The painting alludes to the passage of time that changes things and  how time brings great contrasts. In the forefront of the image, the common and beneficial  blackberries on the right and the poisonous nightshade berries on the left that were mentioned on  the first page of Sula contrast the idea of good and bad and how they both exist in the  communities. People and places are complicated and are shaped by circumstances and time.  There are many factors and events that impact a person’s development, and nobody is one dimensional. 

Visiting my great grandfather gave me a stronger personal connection to this piece; as he  showed me a photo album displaying his life, I was able to witness the contrast between the 

Anderson 2 

“glory days” of his community and present day. Born in 1927, he experienced many of the  themes that were discussed in class, and it was very eye-opening to read about the topics in class  and see them manifested in real life. 

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