Vignettes of people playing basketball, doing yoga, relaxing, cooking, farming, and taking public transportation grace the surface of the forty-eight individual ceramic tiles that compose this delftware-inspired painting. Working primarily in ceramics, Patrice Renee Washington investigates structures of race, class, and gender as they relate to the construction of identity and experience. Through use of objects and cultural signifiers, she considers how identity can be manipulated and shaped to explore alternative understandings.

In There are seeds to sow, Washington reworks the delftware tradition hailing from 17th century Europe to center the everyday contemporary lived experience of Black subjects and examine assumptions made about Black identity. Central to this work is the multilayered symbol of the watermelon, which furthers Washington’s investment in reclaiming historical narratives related to Black life in the United States, particularly in the American South. In her work, the sliced watermelon and its seed stand as signs of perseverance and achievement as well as of the racist associations made between the fruit and Black farmers.