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Kennedi Carter
Boy with His Horse, 2020
Archival pigment print, 40 x 40 inches
Edition 2/10, signed, on print
Unframed
Courtesy of the artist and Rose Gallery
Estimated value: $6,000
My childhood is rooted deeply in southern culture; I grew up in North Carolina, and my maternal family is from Louisiana and Texas. I’ve found that the deeper I peer into southern history—through the gaze of my ancestral ties—there is a common thread coursing through it that falls within the motifs of agriculture, land, nature, and love. I have a vivid memory from when as a child I was in Dallas, staring from my car seat out of the window to watch Black men riding their horses down the freeway. During Christmas gatherings my aunts and uncles would reminisce on their times at trail rides, the freedom they felt and the romances they’d have, which resulted in my cousins.
These ancestral reflections and childhood memories constantly resurface in my work. I find myself circling back to the relationship Black Americans have with nature and agriculture, the love that goes into growing a crop or nurturing an animal, as well as the connections and familial ties that are a byproduct of doing so. To me this is most present in the lifestyles of Black horse riders—most develop a love for horses through their families, some use it as a method of escape and solace. This project is an ancestral conduit I’ve used to become closer to my southern roots, as well as to live vicariously through the horsemen I capture, to grasp just for a moment what freedom means and what it looks like.
About the Artist:
Kennedi Carter
A Durham, North Carolina, native by way of Dallas, Texas, Kennedi Carter is a photographer with a primary focus on Black subjects. Her work highlights the aesthetics and sociopolitical aspects of Black life as well as the overlooked beauties of the Black experience: skin, texture, trauma, peace, love, and community. Her work aims to reinvent notions of creativity and confidence in the realm of Blackness.
Website: kennedi-carter..com | rosegallery.net
Instagram: @internetbby | @_rosegallery_
Venmo: @kgcarter
