Jennifer Monet Cowley ‘Four Women’ (2022)
48″ x 12″ (4 – 12″ x 12″ canvases)
Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas

Four Women is my representation of Nina Simone’s song “Four Women”.  Four Women is a quadtych with each panel representing each woman.  The first panel presents Aunt Sarah.  Aunt Sarah says, “…….My back is strong enough to take the pain, inflicted again and again……”.  The panel is painted black to represent Aunt Sarah’s skin.  The red paint represents the whip lashes on her back.  The second panel represents Saffronia.  Saffronia says, “….My father was rich and white.  He forced himself on my mother late one night…..”.    The panel is painted yellow to represent Saffronia’s skin.  The footprints represent the rape of her mother.  The third panel represents Sweet Thing.  Sweet Thing says, “…..Whose little girl am I?  Anyone who has money to buy…..”.    The beige paint represents Sweet Thing’s skin.  The body print represents Sweet Thing selling her body.  The fourth and final panel represents Peaches.  Peaches says, “….I am awfully bitter these days, because my parents were slaves…..”.  The brown paint represents Peaches’ skin.  The orange paint represents Peaches’s name.  Peaches’s statement is written upside down because she is bucking the system and has already stated that she is bitter.  At the end of the song, Peaches exclaims loud and unapologetically proud that her name is Peaches which is why her name is represented by the color orange.