Cops and Robbers (Toys)

2023
Mixed Media on Canvas
60 × 48 in

Cops and Robbers (aka Toys) examines the uncomfortable space between childhood innocence and the way that innocence can be perceived differently when it belongs to a Black child.

For generations, children have played cops and robbers, cowboys, superheroes, and soldiers. A plastic water gun is understood for what it is: a toy, a prop in an imaginary world. But when similar objects appear in the hands of Black children and young men, innocence can quickly be replaced by suspicion, fear, and assumptions of danger.

The word TOYS dominates the painting as both a declaration and a reminder. These are children. These are toys. This is play.

The work asks the viewer to consider when an innocent game stops being seen as innocent—and who is allowed the freedom of childhood without having their play misread as a threat.

Cops and Robbers is ultimately about protecting the right of Black children to simply be children: to imagine, pretend, play, and explore their world without having adulthood—or danger—projected onto them too soon.