Another aspect is viewing rest, in its simplest form, as a biological necessity. Yet for Black communities, rest has historically been weaponized as a site of struggle, a luxury denied through systems of racial capitalism, anti-Black violence, and colonial labor exploitation. This series positions rest as a radical act of resistance and reclamation within the context of Black artmaking, drawing on frameworks from Black feminist theory, critical race studies, and the practices of contemporary Black visual artists. By interrogating the politics of rest—its denial, reimagining, and aesthetic possibilities—this body of work places rest not merely as a personal indulgence but as a collective, liberatory praxis that destabilizes white supremacist notions of productivity and labor.
David Legrand (b. 1995) is a Haitian-born American artist who earned his BFA in Fine Arts from Cornell University in 2023, where he was honored with the Faculty Medal of Art. He graduated with his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, supported by the prestigious Society of Presidential Fellows scholarship.