[09/01/26] McFarland, JoAnne: Psalms of Innocence

Psalms of Innocence bears witness to civil rights activist Malcolm X’s assertion: “The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman.” Combining text, painting, collage, and beadwork, the pieces resonate with English Romanticist William Blake’s 1789 magnum opus: Songs of Innocence, where art and poetry also merge. Examining the wrenching, under-recognized history of the lynching of Black women in the United States, and the ongoing epidemic of missing Black women and girls, Psalms of Innocence unearths and honors some of our most vulnerable citizens.