2023
Leather boots set inside concrete cast of same boot, dress shoes
40 x 30 cm
15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
Featuring a pair of Nike ACG boots, that sit inside a concrete shell cast from the very same boots, next to a pair of dress shoes. This pair of boots is extremely common not only as a fashion choice but as work shoe in the DC area, most commonly worn by young black men, it’s one of the many symbols I use for black masculinity.
The shoe is almost erupting from this stone shell of itself, this hard jagged exterior, almost like a cocoon. A hard exterior like many young men and black children in general develop to protect themselves from the world around them, this projection of toughness as self preservation then when given a chance to relax reveals a soft vulnerable interior. The name of this piece comes from when I had a brief chance reunion with an old mentor, who was a school teacher, he told me about one of his students, a hard kid, who connected with him. And how this young black boy would come and post up (standing in a certain place with intention) next to his desk during class, not saying anything, just sharing the space. And the other kids would tell him sit down but my mentor said no “he’s just fine right here next to me”
It may seem simple but there’s a certain cultural context between black men that’s hard to sum up, but the point he made was about you have no idea how much that kid might have needed that space held for him, and sometimes no words are even needed, posting up is typically some hood shit and teachers like to keep that out of the classroom but this is the important of black teachers in the classroom because my mentor understood that you meet your kids where they are at so this piece is named for that story and for him, Mr. Curtis Valentine, the stone shoes being the child, the dress shoes being the teacher.