Bear with us on this one. We appreciate that the subject of this painting, by an artist named Tavish, doesn't actually depict a woman holding a red pill. It looks more like a Popsicle. But not all art is literal, and we suspect this is one of those paintings that has hidden depths. What we're actually seeing is a very confident, self-assured and beautiful woman of color who's secure within her own identity. The fiery red hair exudes an individuality and surety as cool and level as her gaze.
In 'The Matrix' the red pill took Neo deeper into the reality, and the blue pill took him back to fantasy land. Could this woman be feeding us the red pill of reality when it comes to black women and their place in the modern world?