Cedric Smith: From Cotton to Roses
Eadward Muybridge, one of the pioneering American photographers, conducted his famous series of photographs studying animals in motion around the late 19th century. While this body of work marks the advancement of technology and photography as a visual art practice, the series holds a dual narrative and a widely unknown history.
The series of photographs, later strung together to create a short film, was made with the intent of focusing on the horse’s gallop, noting that during this sequence of movement, each of its hooves leaves the ground all at once. There is a key figure left unnamed—the Black jockey. This series by Muybridge makes the capture of this individual’s likeness unparalleled. Blackness at this time was often documented with sitters having little to no agency or consent, let alone taking part in such a historical project like Muybridge’s study.
Cedric Smith, currently based in Macon, Ga., contemplates this idea of the Black icon who seems to have evaded archival capture. Through his works, such as From Cotton to Roses, which was acquired by the Albany Museum of Art in 2021, he questions historical visibility and representation.
From Cotton to Roses almost acts as a counter perspective to Muybridge’s photography by shifting the focus from the horse to the jockey. The figure’s strong stance and features contrast with the soft background, making the viewer wonder about the location and destination of the jockey. It feels as though he is darting through the air. While captured by the movement Smith has created in the painting, the artist makes note of an additional reminder: history is residual and unforgettable.
Oftentimes, enslaved people who worked in cotton fields had to deal with wounded hands from the sharp bracts of the cotton bolls, similar to the prick of a rose thorn.
From Cotton to Roses offers a moment to think about the ways that Blackness is historically depicted through the icon of the Black jockey, which, in its own right, is a hidden gem within the art historical canon.
— Katie Dillard, Director of Curatorial Affairs.
