Very limited 3-print Artist Proof -- 24x24 inch gallery stretched canvas embellished, signed, numbered, and complete with an embossed certificate of authenticity.

This piece is part of my Signs of the Time series, where I use ordinary images to examine the rules, limitations, and assumptions of American history. I think about a time when Black people could dream, train, and be fully qualified to become a pilot, yet still be denied opportunities because they were Black. Perry Young became the first Black pilot to fly a regularly scheduled passenger route for a U.S. airline in 1957, and Marlon Green’s fight against racial discrimination at Continental Airlines reached the Supreme Court in 1963. That history feels especially relevant now, when comments like Charlie Kirk’s 2024 remark that he would wonder whether a Black pilot was qualified have reopened questions about competence of Black pilots. I wanted this child to represent the possibility that existed alongside that exclusion: a Black boy looking at an airplane and seeing himself in the cockpit, even when America had not yet decided he belonged there.