Cider Ellison
Floyd County
Artist Statement: My hope for a Just Transition is one led by women of color who are supported and uplifted in that role. My vision is one where the land and the people are front and center and one where we make color from toxic sludge. Every facet of my piece is intentional. The painting is done on the surface of reclaimed birch wood and is painted with primarily oil paints created from an Ohio/Mississippi mine pollution cleanup project (Gamblin’s Reclaimed Earth Pigments.) The copper leaf work is also a nod to the sizable role copper plays in renewable energy efforts as well as the history of Appalachian copper.
2020. mixed media (oil paint, copper, on birch)
Artist Statement: Chokecherry Work. 2020. is a piece surrounding the joy, hurt, growth, and harm I've experienced.
This work is like
Unripened
Chokecherries
A promise of something
Wonderful
And nourishing
The berries are brightest when you can’t eat them, though
Bitter and biting out of season
This work is the food,
Yes
And it is the medicine,
Yes
And I am grateful, I promise
But it can be the poison, too
If you’re not careful
I’ve been asked before to uphold white supremacy in the name of green energy
To ignore ecofascism when it sits at my table
The seeds carry toxins, you see?
And I
I want to teach you to pound and sun-dry them
To neutralize the cyanide
Make them good, make them safe
This work doesn’t deserve to be discarded
Are you patient? Am I?
The berries are hardest to find when ripe
Not showy, but finally sweet
We can make wine
And syrup
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Poet, visual artist, community organizer, and activist based in Eastern Kentucky.