ARTIST STATEMENT
For over two decades, my voice was expressed solely through dance. Now, having transformed, I engage in an interdisciplinary exploration that fuses movement and form as its foundation. My practice spans photography, video, text, textiles, sculpture, and healing practices, all unified by a central mission: healing the severed Black psyche.
My work is deeply rooted in mythology, folklore, fairy tales, and Afro-futurist thought, employing these as creative tools to explore and challenge racial and gender inequalities. Central to this exploration is my use of Tar Baby Code, a body-based font inspired by the African-American folk tale of Br’er Rabbit, who cunningly escapes the trap set by Br’er Fox. This font becomes a vehicle for engaging with Black resistance, literacy, and the power of coded vernacular.
Whether in statements of gratitude, observation, or protest, Tar Baby Code renders the expressive force of the Black female figure visible, transforming her into a site of resistance.
My work draws on diverse sources, from Egyptian and medieval European mythology to African-American folklore and photography from the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras. These elements become the building blocks of a present time that connects to the past and opens pathways to myriad possible futures, using the concept of a wormhole as a metaphor for this temporal and cultural journey. Through this body of work, I propose that slipping through space-time is itself a form of resistance.
I invite you, dear viewer, to venture through this wormhole with me. The journey requires self-reflection in the face of our most fraught and unsettled shared histories. To pass through is to experience tear and suture, dismemberment and reconstitution, death and resurrection. The reward is a redemptive, healing balm.
For more Check Out this interview with The Kenan Institute for the Arts (UNCSA):