The title is an extract of a verse from a Poem by Aimé Césaire about the death of Emmett Till.
Although it was from a poem evocating the violence of racism, I found these words and the poetics behind it, very interesting and it gave me the idea of a painting.

This portrait of a couple was figured with the same “eyes” from a Fang Mask (Gabon) represented in a kind of proximity of pose, but from different views.

The two characters are watching the viewer giving a wink and are expressing their rank.
We don’t know if it is a real noble rank or if it is during the time of carnival just for a night.
But they are both in costume.
The painting is once again a play with the genre of Court portraits where these two creole crowned heads are represented in a collage of multiple iconographic resources.
These two king and queen are reunited for a night, overlooking an imaginary landscape.

Iconography:

Queen : Portrait of Anne of Austria, queen consort of spain by Alonso Sánchez Coello (Spain). Fang mask from Gabon
King : Portrait of a gentleman by Jooris Von Der Straeten (Holland). Fang mask from Gabon
Landscape : Mary with the sleeping child in a landscape by Joachim Patinir (Holland)

Faces from different collections of ethnological photographs (all taken in Africa).
- Woman (Nigeria)
- Man (Rwanda)