Artist: R.V. Monroe (Robert & Venice Monroe)
Medium: Laser engraving on natural wood, mounted on hand-painted wood panels within a custom wood frame
Dimensions: 12 inch X 12 inch
 
Description:
 
Built From the Bone is a visual testimony to the Black man’s role in shaping the American landscape—physically, intellectually, and spiritually. The central figure kneels between worlds: book in one hand, chisel in the other. He reads. He carves. He builds. Not for glory—but because the work has always needed doing.
 
Behind him, the land he shaped stretches outward. A tree glows under a full moon—ancestral. Enduring. The swirling skies hold movement and memory. The architecture at his feet is layered like history: built, buried, rebuilt again.
 
Crafted by R.V. Monroe, the collaborative vision of Robert and Venice Monroe, this work bridges both reflection and responsibility. Robert’s lived experience—rooted in Brooklyn, the South, and the working mind of a builder—infuses this figure with strength and purpose. Venice, shaped by her work in mental health and generational care, ensures this man is not rendered as myth or martyr. He is human. And still holy.
 
The layered background—warm earth tones framed in turquoise and red—reflects land, spirit, and vitality. It reminds us that the contributions of Black men in America are not abstract. They are carved into the fields, the documents, the bridges, and the breath of this nation.
 
Built From the Bone is not a monument. It is a mirror.