Freedom, Withheld

Freedom, Withheld examines the contradiction between the freedoms the United States claims to protect and the unequal access many marginalized people have to those freedoms.

The figure is rendered in varied brown tones to represent Black women, both cisgender and transgender. The American flag covering her mouth transforms a national symbol into an instrument of restraint, reflecting the ways Black women are silenced, dismissed, and expected to make their voices acceptable before they are heard.

The red, black, and green palette references the Pan-African flag, connecting the work to Black identity, history, and resilience. Her direct gaze resists erasure even as her mouth is covered.

Freedom, Withheld asks what freedom of speech means when the consequences of speaking are not shared equally, and whether freedom can truly be considered universal when so many people must still fight to claim it.