The Wedding of ’95
In The Wedding of ’95, Troy Hul Arnold chronicles a defining chapter in his personal and cultural history: the union of his mother, Catherine, and his stepfather, Arthur, in the spring of 1995. Set against the familiar red-brick façade of the Open Door Church of God in Christ—at the intersection of Greene and Patchen Avenues in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick neighborhoods—the painting captures a moment of familial transformation and communal celebration.

Surrounded by close relatives, the couple stands as central figures in a narrative that marks not only a matrimonial union, but also a broader story of Caribbean-American identity and naturalization. For Arnold, this day signified a turning point—an experience deeply rooted in the immigrant journey and reflective of countless American stories where personal milestones intersect with cultural redefinition. The Wedding of ’95 serves as both documentation and tribute, preserving the layered complexity of becoming and belonging within the evolving fabric of diaspora life.