Black with Spikes’ is inspired by two situations. One, the current situation the world is facing with the COVID-19 pandemic thus the color black to signify the lockdowns countries are putting in place to restrict movement.

Secondly, the spike on the artwork was inspired by Dickens’ trip to the UK when he came across doors with spike and when he inquired about the spike, he was told that they restrict homeless people from accessing the spaces. Loosely, Dickens interprets this as the social divide that exists in a society based on the economic level of a person.