Chanell Stone’s practice explores what she describes as the “re-naturing” of the Black body to the American landscape—an act that aims to complicate and sublimate the history of American slavery into a reimagined relationship between African Americans and the earth. She describes growing up feeling that, as an African American, “this isn’t your land or it isn’t for you.” She remembers often hearing how America was built by immigrants, and while that may be one aspect of America’s history, Stone’s work demonstrates how crucial it is to acknowledge that America was also built by various slavery structures, and in particular, Black slaves, and Black Americans. The artist’s work challenges subtle and insidious forms of Black erasure such as the immigrant narrative. In response to such narratives, she has recently spent time examining this history with her family—looking through photo albums and listening to her grandmother’s memories. For Stone, it is a way for her to reclaim the narrative, and to piece together a fractured American history.