Ida B Wells Card

Julia Dzikiewicz IDA B. WELLS Encaustic with Swarovski crystals, encaustic printed paper, and electric strip lights 2016 60”x60”

In this painting, a woman pulls off a Ku Klux Klan robe to reveal the monster underneath. She defeats the creature by shining light on it, stopping it as it prepares to lynch a young boy. Lights accentuate the outside of the robe and also shine under the three paper effigies at the bottom of the piece. The woman is Ida B. Wells, who was a Suffragist, civil rights activist, journalist, and newspaper editor. She researched cases of lynching in the South and found racism to be the motivating cause. Wells risked her life to give speeches and write articles to call attention to these horrible crimes.