He watched as his companion for the past hour left, not bothering to cast even a backwards glance as she exited the bar arm in arm with another man.

Chase Williamson is a painter and MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Born and raised in Middle Tennessee, her southern living experience is the major propeller for her work. She centers the interconnection of the Southern Black Garden, memorial waters, and Black womanhood through her paint and fabric compositions.

Tea boiled to a rippled thin skin on top but Bhavna did not seem to notice. She stared at her daughter’s old hair band hanging from a wall hook in the kitchen as if seeing the tangled curly hair strands for the first time.

Kolah’s right hand massaged her left wrist while the left cupped something black. It was the dead of night and she showed up at Sister Hadeema’s house banging on the door. “Why does it look like this?” she asked the woman she ran to whenever it felt like her body was falling away from her, becoming something unknown.