Artist Statement

At the core of my work is a longing to express and celebrate the complexity of Black identity, as well as highlight our essential connection to the natural world while dismantling false narratives. As a mixed media artist and figurative painter, much of my work involves painting with acrylics on canvas, linen, and reclaimed wood. I gravitate towards these specific materials because of the organic qualities they imbue my work with. Most recently, I have been working with wool embroidery as an additional natural element to create textured plants and flowers that punctuate my compositions and surround the people in my paintings.

By focusing on Black portraiture within an earthy yet vibrant color pallet, natural elements, and spiritual symbology, I aim to create an other-worldly image that creates a sense of balance as well as captures the nuances of the people I paint. From the colors of their clothing to the gestures of their bodies to the nature that envelopes them, for me, it is important to represent Black identity with as much complexity and spirit as possible, in order to decolonize the Black body and the Black image, and to reclaim Black innocence: the essential qualities inherent to us as people that so often are systemically destroyed and dismantled.