Verbal Description: Trans Forming Liberty, 2024

Narrator: Trans Forming Liberty is a vertical oil painting on canvas from 2024. It depicts a figure in the likeness of the Statue of Liberty. Standing in the center, she gazes forward wearing a vibrant blue satin gown resting one hand on the hip with the other holding a golden torch full of bright Gerbera daisies above her head. 

The figure stands against a solid lavender background. The hue is a pastel lavender that contrasts with a short curled electric pink bob and matching eyebrows. Unlike the gaze of many of Sherald’s subjects, which seem to meet the viewer’s own, her eyes gaze far beyond the viewer, as if she is fixed on a horizon, literal or figurative. Her almond-shaped eyes are decorated with sweeps of pink and gold eyeliner and full black lashes. Her skin tone is represented in grey scale, with highlights on her defined cheekbones and the tip of her nose. Her round lips are covered in warm sheer purple lipstick, allowing her dark skin tone to come through. 

The figure’s monochrome gown features a corseted bodice with lines of boning that taper toward her waist, with oversized blue ribbons resting just off her shoulders. A smooth narrow skirt forms a mermaid silhouette that hems at the ankle. Her left leg peeks out of a daring slit in the dress, with the heavy silky fabric falling around each side of her leg.The subject of Trans Forming Liberty stands contrapposto like the Statue of Liberty but diverges from the original icon’s neoclassical style with the figure’s posture here falling on the back foot rather than the front foot. 

The huge scale of this work brings a larger-than-life presence to the person pictured here, embedding glamour and feminine poise within a colossal iconic symbol of liberation. The model for this work was Arewà Basit, a Black, non-binary trans-femme artist. She describes looking at the painting:

Arewà Basit: When I see this, I see all of the years being told that I had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. And when I found the truest meaning of what that pledge is, I see this version of Lady Liberty. And it's really just a lady who is empowered, empowering, and represents the fullness of what liberty and justice could give and what it can mean.