View all the “Faces of the Lowcountry” paintings

Robert’s “Faces of the Lowcountry” series of paintings is an exploration of the joy and tenacity of the Gullah people as they continue to define and celebrate their identity, a cultural symbol of survival and abundant hope for all people. My Gullah series is about freedom and identity. A culture oppressed by slavery and displaced from their ancestral home, are engaged in a centuries long struggle for freedom and identity. Their struggle is our struggle. We as individual humans are on our own private struggle for freedom and identity, which in many ways are inventions of the mind. To overcome oppression we inevitably must render it powerless by surrendering to it, allowing it to be until the oppressors wear themselves out with their own hate. And at other times, it is time to fight the good fight of freedom. With the Faces of the Lowcountry, we celebrate the joyous place in ourselves that knows nothing of oppression. It is the part of ourselves that connects with the whole of humanity and recognizes we are part of something larger than ourselves.