UNBOUND: A Visual Study on the Nature of Freedom

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What could freedom look like when it is not measured by the ability to acquire more, but instead to simply require  less?

Freedom means many things to people, but at its core, it is an internal feeling to exist without hindrance. To live, feel, speak, etc., without being hindered by any external forces.

I contemplate freedom from the perspective of a Black American, born on the 4th of July, and who has always wrestled with the day I just so happened to be born, and in a country that signed into law its freedom on this day; yet, inculcated with the belief that Black Americans will always be fighting for freedom. The perpetual fight for freedom…

Opening on the eve of America's 250th anniversary of independence and my 44th birthday (My Obama Year), this exhibition lives inside that tension. I am extending into public discourse UNBOUND: A Visual Study on the nature of Freedom, a contemplative observation of my 2019 and 2020 explorations in Kenya, across 3 cultural encounters. Experiences that belong as much to Philly as they do Kenya, and that, for me, extend into Japanese culture as well.

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Upon being introduced to the Japanese concept of Ikigai in spring 2025 by a student at the university where I worked, I was inspired to rewatch, for the 3rd time, the anime that largely shapes my worldview, One Piece. To study Luffy's journey through the lens of Ubuntu (the Outward) and Ikigai (the Inward). This happened to coincide with the Straw Hat jolly roger being used as a symbol of solidarity at protests across 20 countries and emerging as the defining symbol of Gen Z resistance worldwide. What started as a study of my favorite character morphed into a side quest to characterize freedom and what it means for me to live UNBOUND, or at least to narrate how I've observed it globally for personal insight. This familiarity drew me back to my Kenyan explorations and the observations of freedom I encountered there:

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In Kajiado's vast expanse, I experienced a "Night in the Bush" with a Maasai family of shepherds, who moved at the pace of the herd. An enlightened pulse of knowledge and wisdom exchanged through lineage. Here, the magic happened when the moon set, and a city boy gazed up and saw the Milky Way, where it felt like I was floating, free as Stardust. 

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Kibera showed me what a freedom-filled smile felt like. A city within a city and a marvel of resilience and shared humanity. An unexpected opportunity invited me into the Kibera slums with its native, Sun, Octopizzo. Here, one's imagination must be free to fathom oneself beyond an inherited circumstance, and freedom must be improvised through creativity and community.

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The island of Lamu transports us back to a time of simpler Swahili living. Where donkeys have the right of way, and Pole Pole (slow slow) is the governing ethic, in this UNESCO World Heritage City. Here, the informal brilliance of the Fundis and the Dhow Captains held me in awe. I can never seem to find the words to describe Lamu, but freedom permeates this beautiful archipelago.

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UNBOUND moves through my practice, The Way of Inquiry: An Openness to Encounter, a practice that finds in genuine openness and observation, across culture and geography, the questions that serve as prerequisites for the next. This exhibition ponders what it could mean to live free, without permission, and despite inherited circumstances.

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Maybe freedom is a state of mind, irrespective of condition…maybe it is not, either way, may we all carry the quest for liberation as fervently as Luffy!

~ Steven CW Taylor ~

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"The UNBOUND collection" has 3 Artist Proofs & 60 limited editions per photograph. Ensuring exclusivity!

 

Each work of art is built to order, personally processed by the artist, and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. 

Limited Editions produced on Epson Cold Press Natural Archival Inkjet Paper. 100% Cotton, 340gsm. 

Print Only

 

• Contact the gallery to inquire about a Steven CW Taylor Artist Proof from the UNBOUND collection.