Cosby survivor Lili Bernard is one of 62 publicly known victims who were drugged and raped by the now-disgraced “America’s dad.” Cosby is currently serving a 3 to 10 year prison sentence in a state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. Bernard’s new piece Beware of Boogie Men Disguised As Deity will be shown at Coagula Curatorial as part of the two gallery group show “Goddesses & Gods.” Full of symbols and meaning, the piece focuses on the deification of successful men within and outside of their communities, the abuse of power, and the harm these men have done.

Bernard who was born in Cuban of mixed African, European and Chinese heritage, explains, “I am sensitive to the fact that White rapists are not met with the same scrutiny and legal consequences as are Black rapists, but that’s a different narrative. This painting is about my personal story, and the notion that these three once highly revered Black male icons have set in backward motion the work that our true Black male heroes, like MLK, Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey with his Liberation Flag, did in elevating the Black image.”

She adds, “Statistics show that less than 2% of rapists ever see a day behind bars, and that lighter skinned rapists are less likely to be convicted and incarcerated than are darker-skinned rapists. Michael Jackson figured out that equation and he won.”

Bernard’s work was called brave and beautiful by her friends, followers, fellow artists and sister survivors. However, fans of Jackson took offense at Bernard portraying “The Man in the Mirror” singer as a pedophile and equating him with R. Kelly and Bill Cosby. It started off with fans calling her an “old woman,” and saying she was ignorant and ill-informed.

She wrote, “I made two art projects in relation to the Cosby retrial. One is a candlelit installation which I created over the course of 62 days, with each publicly known Cosby survivor represented in one carved candlelight bag. On some evenings, during the retrial, we placed and lit the installation outside of the courthouse as a silent vigil and prayer for the victims in the trial, for all the Cosby survivors and for all sexual assault victims.

The other art project is a wooden painted box filled with wooden painted hearts, decorated in Afro-Cuban religious iconography. I made them with the help of my daughter Zion. Outside of the courthouse, at the end of the trial, I gifted a heart to each person with whom I had connected. I made 62 hearts, one for each of the 62 of us publicly known Cosby survivors.”

Bernard wrote about the next phase of Beware of Boogie Men Disguised As Deity, “It took a while to compose this composite of the 62 of us courageous Cosby survivors who spoke out publicly. There are many more victims of #BillCosby’s whom several of us know personally, who have chosen to not disclose their trauma publicly, because doing so comes with great burden. I’m grateful to my son who helped me with this digital composition. About to manually (with scissors) cut and glue these small images, and put each behind a separate 1-inch glass jewel, onto a new #artwork that will be exhibited in the #GoddessesAndGods group art show that opens this Saturday evening, June 22, at #CoagulaCuratorial and #LisaDerrickFineArts on Chung King Road in the #Chinatown #LosAngeles #Art District. #BewareOfBoogieMenDisguisedAsDeity #BillCosbyRapist”