I am a Queen - macarena zilveti

In response to the senseless deaths of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and countless other Black Americans whose lives were cut short by racial violence and injustice, I created this series as an act of witness and protest. As a mother, I found myself thinking about the women left behind—the mothers, sisters, daughters, and communities forced to carry unimaginable grief.

The paintings depict the profiles of African American women, initially inspired by photographs and later by women I met in everyday life who generously agreed to be photographed. Their identities are individual, yet together they become a collective presence—portraits of dignity, resilience, and quiet strength.

When photographing each woman, I asked her to imagine herself as a queen. Almost immediately, her posture would shift. Shoulders lifted, chin rose, and an unmistakable sense of confidence emerged. These subtle transformations became the foundation of the paintings, honoring the grace, power, and humanity that have too often been overlooked or denied.

Rendered as stark black silhouettes against white grounds, the figures invite viewers to look beyond individual features and confront broader questions of race, identity, and representation. A strand of barbed wire encircles each neck like a necklace. It functions both as adornment and restraint—simultaneously suggesting beauty, resilience, violence, and the enduring weight of systemic oppression.

Together, these portraits form a silent chorus. They do not depict victims, but women who bear witness. Their silence is not absence; it is a powerful refusal to let these lives be forgotten.