In my current practice I create mixed media paintings, drawings, and sculpture with the desire to explore the layers of meaning that emerge when abstract narratives, forms and textures intertwine. I do this within my Afroglyphs series, where I explore the dynamics of typography, texture and design. The single line color of black in my forms refers to the people and earth which is my ancestral home, while the various surface textures, patterns and vibrant color reflect the struggle and strength to rise above adversity.
My initial inspiration came from an artist residency in 2018 to Senegal, Africa where I absorbed the culture, the land and aesthetics. I reconnected with my heritage and was compelled to build upon those experiences. Along with my previous career as a graphic designer and my love for working with shape, color and mark, I developed the Afroglyphs. I want viewers to consider the wide-ranging nature of calligraphy, forms and writings used for communication, and how shared pictorial cues can help us understand each other.
My work is a celebration of cultural aesthetics and Black history within a simplified graphic language of my invention. My reinterpretation of African spaces and bodies considers how ideas can be reduced to abstract symbols which carry meaning outside conventional Western systems of language, graphics and writing. I reinvent the semiotics of the African diaspora as a means of considering its past, present and future.
Articulating the Black body and experience in a universal format provides an opportunity through my art to keep the legacy of African art and creativity alive and expanding on it, as it is my heritage.