“NOT EVERYTHING THAT IS FACED CAN BE CHANGED, BUT NOTHING CAN BE CHANGED UNTIL IT IS FACED.” - James Baldwin
Land of the Free: Strange Fruit Series - 2018 Mixed Media on canvas - Taking words from the poem “Strange Fruit” and photo images of lynchings, I illustrated the tree, magnolias and people (onlookers) repeating the 3 dimensional black face as a link to the piece “It’s in the History”. As I created this piece, I listened to a song created by Joey Bada$$ - Land of the Free, where he questioned and made statements about the state of current and past events of Black people.
Forgiven - 2018 18 x 24 mixed media on canvas. This is my interpretation of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us.
African Mask 2 - 2019 The original piece was created with found objects of bark from a tree and handmade paper given to me in a gift. This image is a print of the original which has been sold.
Our Youth - 2012 This is a print of a collage of young people from various photographs I took in 2009 when King College Prep Marching Band went to the inauguration of then President Obama . We chaperoned 250 students on this trip. My son was a freshman and played the saxophone in the band.
Stop Hate - 2018 12x12 acrylic paint on canvas. My charge was to create an interpretive piece, which engages the issues of hate within the Black community and the hate placed on the Black community. Current circumstances are the inspiration behind the use of red black and green colors as well as the purple which represents our royal heritage as african decendents. The use of the stop sign is a familiar symbol used to demand a hault of a person in their current place.
We Praise You 2018 This was a 12x12 mixed media canvas work specifically created for the Connect Gallery. They put out a call for artist to donate a work of art created on a 12x12 size canvas. All canvases were displayed for auction. Not sure if my work sold. It is my hope that it found a home.
i am a Man - 2017 16x20 mixed media on canvas. Inspired by the many civil rights photographs and my son's selfie. It reminded me of the many injustices placed on Black men. The selfie reflects my son’s moments in thought as he rides the train home from school and from work.
I Too Am America - 2016 Mixed Media on canvas. 24 x 48 mixed media on canvas. Inspired by the beauty, responsibility, historical and nurturing characteristics of Black Women. The Black Woman being the Mother of ALL beings of human life; the original bearer of life, love and intellect. The American flag as a reminder of the Black woman’s role in society from the past and the present; the African American flag as the identifying factor of her origin and the stones that reflect the historical events hidden that tell the story, “I Too Am America”.
Gloves on the Ground - 2020 30 x 40 acrylic paint on canvas. Inspired by the many disposable gloves I encounter as I walk to and from the bus stop and as I walk from my car to the grocery store and as I take walks in my neighborhood. So many various kinds and colors. Just one of the many ways in which today, at this moment in time that we have to protect ourselves and others. A form of protection that was normal, expected and required for Doctors, Nurses, Dentists and Scientist but has now become the norm for today's society. A reflection and reminder of how fragile life can be.
With Music . . . I Love - 2016 18x24 mixed media on canvas. I once saw a picture of a young lady playing the guitar in a dark room with a brick wall as the back drop. The inspiration come from the many music events I have attended in which my son and my daughter have participated. Young people come alive when music is the source of expression.
Hope - 2018 36 x 48 mixed media on canvas. Hope is the desire to pursue a need for unified existence of love for one’s self and one’s neighbor. Neighbor being those who you are connected with and those who you have yet to connect with. Hope is the foundation in which the pursuit manifests...the “do something” attitude in which hope is carried. Hope is the love for community, the people and the environment in which it is needed.
Woman in Blue - 2016 16x20 mixed media on canvas. This is part of a series of random Black women I was painting. The focus really was about how I can portray our hair using various materials. The hair on this portrait was created with fabric and colored tissue paper. For “US” it’s all about the hair.
It Could Have Been MY Son - 2016 It was one Black man after another, incidents which happened so close together the before one could finish having a moment of grief, another followed. LAQUAN MCDONALD, TRAYVON MARTIN, PHILANDO CASTILE, ERIC GARNER, MICHAEL BROWN, ALTON STERLING, FREDDIE GRAY – these are just some of the names of murdered Black Men that set it off for me. My son. My husband and my brother, ALL Black men were the first to come to mind as the media informed the public of these acts of inhumanity. I was in my school studio and could barely get any work done. So, I stopped what I was originally doing and slapped brown butcher paper on the wall. It was as if I had no control, unaware of what I was creating. It just came out...and then I was done. This piece, with its illustration of angry Black women and words of “It Could Have Been...” has resurrected once again closer to home, because a Black man name Ahmaud Arbery, who was the same age, born the same month and year as my son, was murdered! Once again, I was left paralyzed, angry and helpless. The original art piece was created in 2016 when I was a student in the Low Res MFA program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was created with layered brown butcher paper and colored chalk. This piece became the foundation for my thesis. Since then, I have made some additional pieces through applying various materials to prints and securing it on canvas.
Strange Fruit - NOOSE - 2018 This piece was a research lesson and an eye opener. My process in preparing for this piece was to research how to make a noose. As I was making it via instructions from the internet, I found myself thinking “there is so much hate in the world, in this country and how powerful it is (hate) that someone would take the time to make something in order to harm another”. This was one of the reasons that I decided to put a tangible noose on the canvas as opposed to painting one. It needed to stand out, to make a statement, to be real. In this piece the tree is an olive tree. The olive tree represents peace and friendship which is totally in opposition of the concept of lynching. The representation of the olive tree is a sign of hope that one day, well you know! The pinkish ovals represent the onlookers that I saw in the many photo images as I did my research. They link this piece to the Land of the Free.
Strange Fruit - It's In The History - 2018 Four 16 x 20 mixed media canvases attached as the foundation for the image of a tree with three black 3 dimensional faces wrapped in rope. The rope symbolizing lynching, the black faces symbolizing Black people (strange fruit) as discribed in the poem, the tree symbolizing what was used in addition to the rope for lynching, the Sankofa symbol (know your history) located at the bottom of the canvas, as well as impressions of the American flag and the African American flag. These images are my first interpretation of Strange Fruit written by Abel Meeropol and later sung by Billie Holiday.