As James Baldwin put it: “To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time.” This has always resonated with me as a Black man. My lifelong pursuit is to genuinely and honestly express my lived experience through art-making.
The African storytelling tradition is a thread that runs through my work. Honoring my immediate ancestors as well as those of the African Diaspora is a priority. My highest goal is to turn the terrible into the beautiful. My work is inspired by recent and historical developments about the African American experience as well as anti-Blackness.
I am inspired by images of Black people during the Middle Passage, in the Jim Crow South, and by their representation in today’s mass media. My artwork frequently addresses the racial stereotypes that affect Black people. The work’s deliberateness remixes, reclaims, and reexamines the Black struggle. The works of art serve as a forum for illuminating the existence of the nameless, grief, celebration, and resistance.