Utilizing vivid colors in what appears to be the realm of dreams, Kriss Munsya’s project “The Eraser” contemplates guilt, community and the memories that define us. In June of 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, many experienced a long-overdue awakening to the systemic racial violence impacting Black communities. The privilege that allows for such a lack of awareness, one not afforded to Black individuals who face this reality every day, is underscored in Munsya’s work. In the midst of a global pandemic, as people of color are disproportionately affected (Black Americans are almost four times more likely to contract COVID-19 than white Americans), Munsya spoke with his sister, a curator, to decide what he needed to say with this work. “Before I touch the camera, I have to determine why I am doing it,” Munsya said in an interview with LOJEL.

The resulting series of photos, collectively entitled “The Eraser,” are a tribute to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Dark Side of the Moon and The Eraser by Thom Yorke as well as Munsya’s personal experiences. Being born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and later moving to Brussels, where the artist spent his youth, he developed a sense of detachment from the Black community. Never having many Black friends and never having dated a Black woman, Munsya struggled with the idea of acceptance, often feeling suspended between two worlds. The guilt that ensued over his life’s path is ultimately what inspired his latest photography project. “The Eraser” is about swapping out old memories for new ones and the implications of such change for an individual. Through these images, Munsya endeavored to erase his traumatic memories of white people. Drawing on his own sexuality, he also sought to erase images of white women that we are often fed by the media as the standard for attractiveness, replacing them with Black women instead.

Another integral part of Munsya’s project is the idea of reclamation. Stylistically, the images resemble an editorial shoot, and a certain luxury is implied with the choices of clothing, props and models. To Munsya, this is another means of altering a dominant narrative that has been ingrained into our memories by removing whiteness from the high-fashion, editorial space in which it is often considered the standard. In “The Eraser,” the past merges with hopes for the future, ultimately representing a freeing transformation of old memories to new ones.

Despite their commanding beauty, the images that comprise the series still hold an implied tension. With objects like sequins and flowers obscuring the models’ faces, questions about identity are raised. For some time, Munsya had been curious about the sensation of erasing someone or something from one’s memory and the subsequent danger of self-erasure. Wherever this line exists remains unclear. To Munsya, our memories are often loose or incorrect, and with his photographs, he fills in these empty spaces. This is why they often come across as surreal and fantastical: dreaming is central to the series as a means of reimagining the past.