The Book of Nelson

The Book of Nelson (2024) is inspired by a book that my uncle Nelson carried with him when he went to the South to do voter registration during the Jim Crow era. He was a lawyer, and the book he carried was an innocuous law book. However, it provided him with more than legal assistance. He had cut the pages of the book to hide an Astra FireCat .25 pistol in it.

The artwork consists of a law book, of the same year as the book my uncle carried, and a 3D printed replica of the gun he concealed within it. Ashes from a burned American flag are impregnated in the clear resin of the non functioning ghost gun.

The artwork is an edition and was published by Pratt Institute Editions.