Commissioned by the Delaware Art Museum. © Charles Edward Williams. Photograph and digital imag…

I AM (Queen)

Date2021

Artist Charles Edward Williams (American artist, born 1984)

MediumOil on mylar with etched glass

Dimensions35 3/8 × 25 1/2 in. (89.9 × 64.8 cm)
frame: 43 × 33 1/4 in. (109.2 × 84.5 cm)

Credit LineCommissioned by the Delaware Art Museum; Acquisition Fund, 2021

Object number2021-66

On View

On view

Collections

African American Artists

ClassificationsDRAWING

Label TextFor the 2021 Delaware Art Museum commission, I Sit and Sew: Tracing Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Charles Edward Williams commemorates the life of Dunbar-Nelson (1875–1935), the poet and political activist who spent most of her career writing and lecturing in Wilmington. Dunbar-Nelson’s life spanned many significant historical events, which her poetry and personal writing explored. Drawing from her diaries, photographs, and published works, Williams creates a layered and multimedia exploration of the public and private lives of Dunbar-Nelson.

Williams’ I AM (Queen), is a formal portrait of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, and elements within the composition are layered with meaning. The treatment of her dress references her racial background growing up in a Creole community in Louisiana. Dunbar-Nelson’s mother was Black and her father was white, and the poet wrote about her experience navigating two racial identities. The transition from the darker to lighter fabric across her shoulders indicates the barriers she felt connecting to both races.