Artist Statement

I am a painter who speaks on the motif of race and gender as they pertain to social and environmental narratives. I use storytelling to channel this exploration, intentionally creating a world that exists outside the boundaries of how we are expected to appear. With oil paint, glitter, and familial fabric, I choose to depict Black bodies with simmering joy and a rested state of mind - despite the tangled environment surrounding us. Whether through over-saturated golden hour tones or cool blue hour hues, these various positions are meant to showcase the resilience found in engaging with our roots – an act that embodies bold defiance in praise of Black errantry and agency. 

 

The deep history associated with blackness, American land, and water is linear, but not unbreakable. The narrative we are told about Black people in pools, beaches, and gardens tells a lot about what is in our consciousness. Reclaiming land and water as a cultural space directly bleeds into the conversation of social justice, further emphasizing the breadth of joy that persists as it swims around our blackness. 

 

Portrayed largely on canvas, each person painted has taught me how to carry water or take root in some form - whether physically through soil or in metaphorical situations. When our wounds are tended to, roots are nurtured back to health; thus, when our histories are reclaimed, and our stories are decolonized, saturated imageries of healing help set up a regenerated sense of our bodies. It is a way to say: “I am here, and you cannot deny me."