My practice stems from the need to express myself in a genuine way without the burden of ridicule from society while also exploring my identity as a Black womxn. I think about my liberation while creating my work and being able to have a few hours where my liberation/voice is fully safe and valued. I also think about how I can further that glimpse of liberation past studio walls to distribute that wealth amongst all Black and Brown communities, specifically amongst Black womxn. That pressure weighs heavily on me, a sense of survivor's guilt showers over me in the form or making, until that making is oppressive, a form of assimilation that feels comforting and productive.
Being able to be adaptive, and resilient with material changes is something that I found to be more involved in my working process. Experimenting with material and technique that are/were pre existing under the formulated patriarchy and white gaze. Those materials range from acrylic paint, coloring pencils, copper, fabric, magazine paper, pearls, glitter, and sequins. I feel the need to over saturate my work in a language that is enticing to that gaze while blatantly poking fun of them for enjoying the allure. I also think it's important for me to be able to probe/dismantle/recontrust the white gaze in order to really expand on my Blackness. Print is a great medium to tackle and expand the boundaries of because of the technical aspect of the process, which is often known to reject a certain treatment or technique, such as aquatinting a copper plate to its darker values while having fine details, or getting fine cross hatching on a screen print with an exacto blade.
My images cite from various sources such as music videos, historical context, performers, fashion trends, articles, album covers, popular adult magazines, my experience and etc. These collection of source materials are references for pornotropring Black bodies misogynoir, queer feminity, negrophilla , sesnsual aestechtic juxopoxed amongst Black aestechic. The densely complex citing is a goal that I try to replicate while creating work.