Renée Cox (b. 1960, Colgate, Jamaica) is a provocative artist, photographer, and political activist who fearlessly explores concepts of empowerment, identity, and injustice; often achieved through the striking and controversial use of her own body. Photographing her clothed and nude body serves as a celebration of black womanhood and a critique of a racist and sexist society. She challenges racial and gendered stereotypes by boldly confronting and subverting them. Cox’s photographs are a bold socio-political commentary that challenges entrenched social norms, celebrates black identity, and encourages critical dialogue on race, gender, and empowerment. Cox has explored numerous identities throughout her life: Catholic schoolgirl, wife, mother, woman who knows and shows her sexual pleasure, and black woman artist contesting an art history that has all but excluded her race. A cross between Diary of a Mad Housewife and The Sensual Woman, American Family is a veritable minefield of taboos, revealed by the miscegenated family album and the erotic display of the artist's own beautiful body. Chillen with Liberty features Cox conjuring the long-lost sister of Wonder Woman as she is placed on top of the Statue of Liberty. This piece functions as a challenge to dismantle the long-lasting presumptions about how black bodies, and Black women, should be positioned in history.