Sadie Barnette

Winfield St

Winfield St by Sadie Barnette depicts a seldom documented scene of men and boys in an intimate domestic setting. In the large format photograph three young boys and a man sit at a dining room table, eating a meal together. One boy is mid-bite, while another looks directly at the camera, obscuring the face of the adult. The photograph has a classic early 70s aesthetic—orange and brown psychedelic wallpaper, a rug of the same colors, and various plants decorate the room. Even the boys outfits echoe the signature colors of the era. The enlarged image is a found photograph of the artist’s father, Rodney Barnette, her  half-brother, and two cousins. It is a representation of familial love and nostalgia, as well as grief, as two of the three boys died before turning twenty. Much of Barnette’s work that focuses on her father’s role as leading member of the Black Panthers, highlights the struggle and resistance associated with that political moment. However, in this body of work the artist also makes space to foreground more tender moments of kinship and domesticity that she believes are fundamental to grassroots political organizing.