Oral History: ZAUNDRIA MAPSON MAY
Artist: Lamont Royster
Title: Spirit Restored, 2015, glass, transparency film 14.25” x 20.5”

“Spirit Restored” represents what it means to reciprocate the spirit of the holidays, to appreciate life over material possessions. Have you or anyone you know had their presents stolen on Christmas Day? What’s left is the emptiness and potentially joyful memories that slipped through your fingers. This book embodies a present. As you open it and are awaiting an object inside, you do not find one. At the bottom are the falling bells of a Christmas tree as a little girl scrambles to find any remaining presents. This little girl is Zaundria Mapson May, born in West Palm Beach Florida, raised in Newark, with family in Talladega Alabama. Zaundria moved many times in Newark and one Christmas a snowstorm trapped her and her family outside with a broken car. They were stranded. Suddenly a Good Samaritan pulled up and helped fix the car, saving them from freezing to death.