7 Steps

Radcliffe Bailey grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, where he lives and works. Bailey uses found materials to translate his experiences and heritage. He focuses on the history of the American South and of African Americans during the Atlantic slave trade. The photograph in the middle of this work comes from a collection of tintypes his grandmother gave him. The title may refer to the attached ladder, which has a large 7 and seven small candles on top. Although Bailey uses personal objects, he suggests collective memory over both time and space.