Mixed media installation including:

• Rootstein mannequin spray painted in black

• Artificial botanicals (calla lilies, string of pearls, rose leaves)

• Mirrors and gold leaf

• Beads and crystals

• Ghanaian sea salt

• Sand from Elmina Slave Dungeon

• Water from a Virginia plantation

• Okra pod and conch shell from Jamaica

• Driftwood (local)

• Artist cast right hand collaged in slave ship diagrams

This installation serves as both altar and artistic meditation on the Black female body. Through careful curation of natural and symbolic elements, Cooper transforms a "Contrast Series" Rootstein mannequin—spray painted an unapologetic, Kerry James Marshall-inspired black—into a sacred space that honors the complexity of Black womanhood. The figure, adorned with a crown of red calla lilies and cascading string of pearls greenery, sits in quiet refusal, her form reflecting centuries of history while claiming space for future possibilities.

Inspired by themes from her forthcoming book UNRULY (2025), Cooper weaves together elements that speak to both ancestral memory and present-day healing. The mirrored spine invites viewers to see themselves reflected and distorted in the Black female form, challenging traditional gazes and assumptions. Gold leaf details on the hands, feet, and healed wounds suggest the alchemical nature of transformation and an inherent embodied divinity.

Through natural elements and sacred objects, the work explores themes of chronic illness, resilience, and the body's capacity for both suffering and transcendence.

Incorporating materials that span continents and centuries—from contemporary mirrors and ceremonial bells, to African trade beads, Ghanaian sea salt, sand from Elmina Slave Dungeons outside of the "Door of No Return", waters from a former Southern plantation, driftwood, and a long okra pod and conch shell from Jamaica to serve as ancestral witness—the installation creates a dialogue between past and present, trauma and healing, visibility and sanctuary.

At the installation's core lies a gold-leafed pen nestled in the artist's cast hand, its surface collaged with slave ship diagrams, embodying both the reclamation of narrative and the weight of historical documentation. Through this visual poem, Cooper invites viewers to witness without consumption.