(Untitled, The Capture Series)

Florine Desmothene is a Haitian artist who lives and works in New York and Ghana. Her works often takes a critical look at stereotypes and expectations of the black female body, particularly the large black female body within the context of global history.

According to the artist,

I’ve been intrigued by the black female body in contemporary visual culture and I’m piqued by how her physical size is suppose to dictate a certain set of ideals and behavior. Borrowing from Jonathan Swifts, Gulliver’s Travels, I chronicled my journey through the Caribbean and West Africa in a series of drawings entitled, The Capture. These mix media pieces, textual mélanges of ink, oil, graphite and charcoal, depict voluptuous female figures amid a strange world of decay and destruction.

(As It Was In the Beginning, The Capture Series)

(Bitta’s Attention, The Capture Series)

(07:22, The Capture Series)

(Examination, The Capture Series)

(Arrival at Nigga Pool, The Capture Series)

(The Debacle, The Capture Series)