Consumed

Collage Poetry Visual Art

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Consumed is a collage-based poetry artwork created as part of the Painted Brain Creative Residency Program, reflecting the lived experience of growing up as a young Black girl navigating predominantly white spaces — in school, in the workplace, and in society at large.

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Through poetic language, the work asks questions such as: How much whiteness must I remove from my system in order to love myself? These questions reveal the internal negotiations many marginalized people are forced to make in environments not built with them in mind.

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Visually, Consumed is constructed from magazine imagery of white-centered people, places, ideals, and media — images that surround, interrupt, and overtake the poem itself. The words strain for space, partially obscured and overwhelmed, mirroring the way identity can become buried beneath expectations, stereotypes, and survival mechanisms.

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