wildscape. literary journal

Title: Exorcism // Artist: Nailah Moon

about the piece

Exorcism is an acrylic on black canvas painting using broad, loose brushstrokes to create this expressive portrait. Black and white were used to create a stark contrast and to also add a ghostly sheen to the figure who is of the ‘walking dead’.  This piece has a two fold meaning: working under the capitalistic structure turns us into hollowed versions of ourselves stealing the vibrancy and life out of our bodies when we are possessed with what people might often call the ‘spirit of customer service’. The exorcism is what happens when we can unmask and purge this spirit out of us and return to being human.  The other meaning of this painting reflects a lot on how Black women have to show up within workspaces. We often have to code switch, contort and make ourselves palatable within these structures held up by anti-Black racist tropes of Blackness where to be ourselves often leads to being labeled difficult, angry and hostile. Exorcism is what I envision it would look like if all Black people, but specifically Black women and femmes, could let out the poison being in this system infects us with. If we could tell our stories fully, the land would weep, the trees would mourn and the heavens would hold us while we grieve together. Exorcism is a spell of release: lets spit out the poisons of this world and become human again.

about the artist // Nailah Moon