Photographs and memorabilia in window

  • Click on image to enlarge

    Photo: Matthew Arnett, 2014
  • Click on image to enlarge

    Photo: Matthew Arnett, 2014
  • Click on image to enlarge

    Photo: Matthew Arnett, 2014
Description

One of Sewell's several cats, the oddly named female, Tiny Bubba, likes to watch outdoor activities from inside the house through an eight-paned window that exhibits photographs of family and friends juxtaposed with souvenirs and mementos. While this type of commemorative display is very common in African American homes, Sewell's unusual inside-out version indicates a proud, extroverted woman willing to reveal herself to others and share herself with the community. She has remarkable awareness of the implications of her creative efforts. She turns a normally private, household altar into a portal directing her experiences toward the outside world. In so doing she demonstrates to others, especially any suspicious neighbors, that she is an ordinary, safe person. To white people who could be potentially dangerous, she gives proof of her longstanding relationships with whites, especially white children, and of what she describes as "the white part of my family. My grandmother, she was a white lady."