Mark Bradford is a contemporary artist best known for his large-scale abstract paintings created out of paper. Characterized by its layered formal, material, and conceptual complexity, Bradford’s work explores social and political structures that objectify marginalized communities and the bodies of vulnerable populations. Just as essential to Bradford’s work is a social engagement practice through which he reframes objectifying societal structures by bringing contemporary art and ideas into communities with limited access to museums and cultural institutions.

Scorched Earth presents an aerial map of a neighbourhood in Tulsa once known as 'Black Wall Street'. Bradford disrupts the urban landscape with a huge swathe of intense black that represents both the physical and psychological scar of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. Around Scorched Earth are small colourful forms that embody the varied and vivid lives impacted by the episode of white supremacist violence and arson.

When Mark painted the original in 2006, he also had in mind the destruction he had witnessed during the 1992 uprising in his hometown of Los Angeles. This edition was created in collaboration with The Broad, home to the original Scorched Earth, in celebration of the museum’s tenth anniversary.
For our printmakers, preserving the rich materiality of Scorched Earth was vital when translating the work to print. Its relief texture was achieved by striking contrasts in ink density, while the play between matte and gloss adds to the standout dynamism of the 20-colour silkscreen.