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To watch Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter is to take a master class in image construction.
In the nine years since, she has evolved dramatically as a star.
Shes almost entirely stopped giving interviews and instead communicates who she is as an artist through images.
Beyonces image-making over this period has been lauded for speaking meaningfully to the political moment.
Its an intriguing failure in her career.
Or money for that matter because lets face it, money gives men the power to launch the show.
Its an image of exorbitant wealth.
Its touching, even glorious, to witness.
The most striking thing about this particular image is not its feminism, but its representational power.
They become surfaces onto which we can graft political ideas.
It grounds itself in a specific cultural context that much of her other imagery lacks.
But anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken.
But lets be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice.
Those are two separate things.
What has become emblematic of Beyonces politics is not her words but the power behind this image.
Over the years, Beyonce has increasingly centered her family in her work especially her daughter Blue Ivy.
What is she trying to communicate with such images?
I think the answer returns to the consideration of power.
These images of women with crisp halos crowning their heads speaks to Beyonces interest in matriarchal lineage.
By coupling African imagery with that of her family, Beyonce positions her lineage as royal.
Its a conservative framing of Blackness, in which wealth and power is tantamount to worth.
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