Portrait of Nat Turner with the Head of his Master 2011

This painting, *Portrait of Nat Turner with the Head of his Master*, is by Kerry James Marshall. There's a real weight to the colors in this piece – the dark browns and blues almost feel like they're pressing down on you. And look at the way Marshall’s put it together; you can almost feel him, brushstroke by brushstroke, figuring out how to bring this scene into being. I think it might have been intense for Marshall to make this. Imagine wrestling with such loaded history, trying to give form to the raw, stark truth of it all. It’s not just about what’s depicted; it’s about the feeling it stirs up. This image, with its unsettling stillness, resonates with the works of other artists who engage with history like Kara Walker, challenging us to confront uncomfortable truths. For me, painting is about embracing the mess, the not-knowing. Marshall's work reminds us that art can be a place where we hold space for the hard stuff, the stuff without easy answers.