“I see the so-called ‘anonymous’ people in these vintage photographs as being stand-ins for the ancestors I will never know,” Whitfield Lovell said.

He uses images of Black people from Emancipation through Civil Rights representing how freedom has been–and is–continually struggled for.

Above all else, the artist’s interest in wood comes through. Wooden chairs, wooden phonographs, wooden pianos and wagon wheels all feature in the displays. Portraits on wood paneling. On wood planks. On wooden disks. Lovell uses wood like most painters do canvas. “I’m working with historical images, and the wood itself has history already,” Lovell has said.

Source: Forbes "Whitfield Lovell Brings Lost African American History Back To Life", By Chadd Scott
Feb 18, 2023: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chaddscott/2023/02/18/whitfield-lovell-brings-lost-african-american-history-back-to-life/