I Hope Another Black Girl Was Experiencing Joy on the Day I Was Born (2019)
Video, 3:07 minutes
T-shirt, screen print
An ode the beauty of Black children and highlighting them living in joy. This piece serves as a recreation of home video footage. Shirt I Made For You represents a recreation of graffiti and air brush style shirts often worn in Black communities.
Shrine for the Living (2020)
We often forget to cherish and uplift the lives of those who stand directly in front of us, touch our
hearts, fill us with warmth, share space, and offer love. Those who are living. It’s common when
individuals pass away in the Black community to have celebration of life ceremonies rather than
a traditional funeral service. Even when traditional funerals are held, not all the expenses can be
paid with ease thus causing families more grief. These types of services tend to be on the more
joyful, party-esque, and uplifting side of remembrance, processing, and storytelling. In my
culture street memorials and altars are found scattered throughout neighborhoods, on sidewalk
corners, and telephone poles after a passing. They grow like living organisms themselves as
days move forward with candles, notes, flowers, teddy bears, framed portraits, and other tokens
to symbolize appreciation, love, unity, and impact. These makeshift memorials note the fact that
someone was seen and that they’re deeply missed. They also highlight community and the
hands of willing volunteers. No one is instructed to make these shrines, they just appear.
Globally and collectively we fail, in some cases, to properly highlight, uplift, and show others
appreciation while they’re here and while we’re able. We often see how much someone was
loved and their impact once they are gone. I began creating a continuing body of work in order
to cleanse floating around transforming rage and grief and celebrating lives while they breathe
here on Earth; offering tokens before absence. Letting others know they are seen. The work is a
note to honor Black lives and queer lives today and forward, not only when they are viciously or
suddenly ripped away from us.
Featured in Channel, a group exhibition curated by Sean Beauford at MuseumLab in Pittsburgh, PA.Channel explores communication through generations featuring artists Saige Baxter, Tyler Calpin, Brendon J. Hawkins, Corrine Jasmin, Steven Montinar, BinhAn Nguyen, Jameelah Platt, Sasha Schwartz, Katherine Sharpless, and Shori Sims. The exhibition showcases photography, painting, installation, and multimedia pieces that "foster dialogue between young students who are at the start of their art journey and emerging artists who are at the start of their careers.”
