{"product_id":"while-we-were-playing-checkers-limited-edition-archival-print","title":"While We Were Playing Checkers — Limited Edition Archival Print","description":"\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhile We Were Playing Checkers\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is reproduced from an original painting by Tuskegee-born artist and Taliaferro Union co-founder David Banks. Set just outside of Bray’s Barbershop in Tuskegee, Alabama, the work reflects on memory, place, and the institutions that once served as gathering spaces within Southern communities.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe title itself plays with the unreliability of memory. The figures sit around a chessboard, yet the work insists that they were playing checkers. A small contradiction that asks what happens to a story as time passes and the places that once held it begin to disappear.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWhile We Were Playing Checkers\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e reflects on the preservation of rural Black institutions and the memories contained within them. Barbershops, schools, churches, businesses, and other gathering places have long served as informal archives of Black life, spaces where stories are exchanged, identities are shaped, and community history is carried forward from one generation to the next.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBut memory is a fragile archive. Details shift. Stories are retold, embellished, misremembered, or lost altogether. And when the physical places that anchor those memories disappear, something more than a building is lost. The work considers our responsibility to preserve these places and their stories while there are still people who remember them, not simply as they were, but as they mattered.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReleased in a strictly limited edition of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e25 prints\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, each piece is individually \u003cstrong\u003ehand si\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003egned \u003c\/strong\u003eand numbered by the artist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePrint Details\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003e18 × 24 inches\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eArchival giclée print\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePrinted on archival fine art paper\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSigned by the artist\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIndividually numbered\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLimited edition of 25\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUnframed\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"isSelectedEnd\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOnce all 25 prints have been sold, this edition will not be reproduced.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taliaferro Union Apparel Co.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46971857600710,"sku":null,"price":150.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0608\/3274\/3622\/files\/printforwebsite.png?v=1787617251","url":"https:\/\/www.taliaferrounion.com\/products\/while-we-were-playing-checkers-limited-edition-archival-print","provider":"Taliaferro Union Apparel Co.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}