Cheyenne Julien has created a body of paintings that is unique in its fresh, non-academic style. Depicting herself, her family, and friends, or sites that conjure up specific memories in her community, Julien allows autobiography to guide her work. People in the street or their apartment’s intimacy are depicted as familiar figures that evoke a rich and multi-faceted experience of her neighborhood. All of her sitters (including herself) have exaggerated traits that are reminiscent of cartoon. The resulting racial stereotypes are a way for the artist to break taboos about black identity. Without hesitation and in a poignant way, Julien points at the open wounds of racial injustice from a very personal standpoint.