My work is rooted in the “oppositional gaze,” a term coined by bell hooks to describe resistance in the act of looking back. I experimented with the portrait by centering Dr. Terri Francis' newly published book “Josephine Baker and the Cinematic Prism,” as a conduit for her identity. We remain in control of what you see and invoke the charm of the Black Venus.

This image is of Charles Exdell a Phd student studying ethnomusicology at Indiana University. The image was captured in his home on East University Street in Bloomington in 2021. He is captured in his kitchen seated lose to the floor and surrounded by his favorite plants, books, and musical instruments from Brazil, all of which is intended to reflect the grassroots and nomadic lifestyle Charles has lived.