Tag Page ArtAndHistory

White Shoes on Wall Street and the Shadows They Refuse to Leave

Nona Faustine’s photographs stopped time in its tracks, placing her own body at the center of America’s forgotten histories. Her most striking series, “White Shoes,” finds her standing nearly nude in white heels at sites across New York City where enslaved people were once bought and buried—a jarring reminder that Wall Street’s foundations are far from innocent. Faustine’s work didn’t just revisit the past; it forced a confrontation with the ways Black women’s stories have been sidelined in public memory. By cropping or obscuring landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, she challenged the idea that freedom and history belong to just one narrative. Even her earliest projects, focused on the women in her own family, hinted at a larger mission: to make visible what history tries to erase. In every frame, Faustine asked the city—and the country—to look again, and not look away. #NonaFaustine #BlackWomenArtists #ArtAndHistory #Culture