Artist’s Statement
“My artistic voice has matured over the 20 years
from when I formally began studying fine art at
the age of 14. Today my art functions as a tool that
allows me to build a platform to amplify my voice
as an agent of social progress. Painting, drawing,
mixed media, graphic design, apparel design and
installation are instruments I utilize to express ideas
about the state of a collective reality I share with
other people of African heritage living in America.
My art lends me the ability to highlight narratives
of pioneers and heroes whose lives offer valuable
lessons that we need to keep alive. I aspire to
provoke thought by visually representing familiar
images in a different light. And on a fundamental
human level, I make art to share complex emotions
in a way that others can relate to.
“I am inspired by artists like Salvador Dali, Rene
Magritte, Alice Neel, Lois Mailou Jones, Kehinde Wiley
along with writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Aesop,
Ray Bradbury, Ralph Ellison, Jean-Paul Satre, James
Baldwin and George Orwell. Ultimately, I want my art
to help people to heal neglected wounds, to see beauty
in overlooked places, to stimulate imaginations, and to
increase consciousness.”
african Voices
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