ABOUT THE ARTIST
ance against what I have seen and experienced as an epidemic of erasure and diminishment hurled at African American women and girls, my art is my remedy, an oasis and a means of redirection. Defined by a maximalist view on color that takes up space and emotion, these paintings and collages, as portraits and people-scapes, they are an imagined wish for the better parts of what currently is, what has been and what might be created in the future In this way, my work is a universe of MORE for it’s subjects - to illuminate, clarify, and beautify a landscape of survival through both hidden and unhidden terrors with wonder as a therapy and a physical path against any fog and all of the storms along the way In this sense, my art is a weapon. As an African American woman and mother of two African American girls, my work often features them or ideas of us as a physical representation to resist, reframe and reconfigure the pretty cages and the tiny boxes that would misidentify, capture and harm those exactly like us, or not so far removed. Rather than accept the idea that anyone should become a ghost, a mouse, or a misreflection (i e an incomplete reflection of themselves) to fit into the more “popular” and “best” spaces, this art is a retelling and a call to take back whatever was given or abandoned of ourselves before we knew better Through painting and elements of collage, it is a decision to fully exist because we can, we deserve, and we should - bursting out rather than in, larger rather than smaller -turning away from being herded into confined spaces or ancillary places that would relegate it’s people to the sides rather than the center of the big picture, the big scheme or the main frame. In keeping with the idea of taking things back and organically returning to where we naturally fit, my most recent work has some coded nature-adjacent shorthand that is still evolving and transforming. Currently, it is this: Fruit is for growth, Fish and Shells are for expansion and finding different paths Bubbles are for freedom from fear despite the fire, and Gold and glitter is for hidden subterranean worth.
Green Goddess (Fear in Flight)
14" x 11"
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Acrylic paint with collage