The Flowers She Deserved (ORIGINAL)

The Flowers She Deserved  was created as part of the National Gallery of Art's Open Call creator campaign. This work reimagines a painting by Frédéric Bazille from the 1870s depicting an unnamed Black woman offering a bouquet of peonies to the viewer. In this reinterpretation, the narrative shifts. Rather than giving the flowers away, the woman becomes the recipient. The gesture transforms from one of service to one of celebration, recognition, and self-worth.
 
Through embroidery and fiber-based techniques, Nneka Jones bridges past and present, drawing visual connections between the original figure and her contemporary counterpart. Elements of the historic composition remain, most notably the plaid headscarf, which reappears as a tailored jacket, creating a thread between generations, memory, and identity.
 
By placing the two women in conversation across time, the work asks viewers to reconsider whose stories are preserved, celebrated, and remembered. The result is a portrait of inheritance, resilience, and transformation, an exploration of what it means to receive the flowers that were always deserved. "Now it feels like these two women are divinely connected through the fibers of memory and identity." -Nneka Jones