These are about identities and ad hoc reseearch- affirming and questioning them. These are about looking at yourself, your worldview, your community and questioning them and making statements about them. These are to make statements about where you are, were you were and/or where you want to be.
20x24in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Art is a tool for calming if I feel alone, depressed or lost. It’s kept me going often and when on the verge of destruction has facilitated creation. This is an adaptation of “The Thinker,” sculpture (by August Rodin) my mom has had since I was born (I have now). I loved it forever and when I moved to college I asked if I could take it. It’s been a reminder of the value of my life and the strength I possess since.
24x26in Acrylic, on canvas.
The world of the womb in view of the world the surrounds it; medical racism, poison, biomedical treatments that don’t account for the humanity of Black infants, black fetuses or any Black life. This work depicts a Black baby in utero with an alien like mouth positioned to do something, most likely hostile to it. These to subjects are surrounded by a grid like reddish, and white-grey pattern, very gritty and industrial while the umbilical cord of the fetus runs down into the St. Louis Gateway Arch (one of the highest infant mortality and infant mortality disparity rates in the United States).
36x36in Acrylic on canvas.
Storytelling of the disparate deaths of Black infants in the United States. This piece and its title were inspired by Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory,” (1931). Composed of seven major elements, to communicate the point; 1) Blood red river, 2) Dead money tree, 3) field of green grass, 4) Black infant 5) white-faced clock blanket, 6) Glowing red sky 7) City symbols of US cities with the highest infant mortality rates as of 2017.
Lets paint something joyful, glowing, nostalgic, and hold it as a reminder of the beauty you hold and represent. This is my first ever self portrait on canvas and symbolizes an era of youth, and inexperience that is important to memorialize and reflect for self- accountability.
20x24in Acrylic on canvas.
I don’t want to remove myself from the work. I want to add more of my physicality to it. Portraiture of Black men in practice, asserting themselves for the liberation of Black people. Though not sure for themselves, telling you to, wanting you as a viewer to “Demand the liberation of your dreams.”
Demand the Liberation of your Dreams was made as a reaction to protests and uprisings that started in May 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The portrait poses this question to Black men: How does the gender binary limit the opportunity for holistic liberation? “Demand the liberation of your dreams” uses a genderless face to acknowledge the othering of Black people who reject the gender binary, and asserts that Black men must learn to listen from and respect all Black people in order to dismantle all oppressive systems.
The United State of Experimentation (also known as Social Evils Project), a collaboration with Ms. Najjuwah Walden, PhD Student.
The focus of these works was to tell a story about the synergism of place, religion, criminal justice, and disease in relation to historical and contentious sex work regulations in St. Louis, Missouri. These four pieces are a visual evolution of a systematic policing’s origin and legacy in the compounding forces of sexism and racism. They illustrate the beginning, middle, and present state of regulations and systems meant to restrict and harm specific communities-black communities in four parts.
5x3ft. Acrylic, Canvas, Glass.
Inspired by works of Kara Walker this piece places policy within geography. It is symbolic of sectors influencing public health including policy, environment, and social context. Policy directly from the Social Evils ordinance, St. Louis county and the City of St. Louis, implementation and the schism that can manifest.
5x3ft. Acrylic, Canvas, Glass.
Inspired by contemporary disease mapping of STI/STDs (sexually transmitted infections/ sexually transmitted diseases). These maps are meant to geospatially illustrate patterns of disease. Often used as illustrative tools to describe patterns of disease and inform public health interventions and research. This map invokes a multimedia approach to geospatial mapping that acts as an end to the chronological story of the social evils ordinances impact.
3x5ft. Acrylic, Canvas, Glass .
The physical space created to practice Social Evils laws and a mark left on the landscape of St. Louis. This piece was inspired by the motion of post impressionist movements and translating that into contemporary depictions of the Social Evils Hospital. This piece marks the material beginning of Social Evils practicing, screening, taxing, and procedures of the said laws. It acts as a grounding force, pressing you to follow reflections alongside the hospital and the city of St. Louis and off the boundary of the canvas.
3x5ft .Acrylic, Canvas, Glass .
The social and political impacts of the ordinances. The regulation of women's rights, religion, geographic segregation, the people and places it impacts (reflections from broken mirrors) These elements literally sit within the City of St. Louis and bleed out.
BLK is Blackness. BLK is America. It is the experience of blackness in America. The beauty and horror of an unattainable american dream for the black and brown people whom built this nation. The historical root of Black American poverty lies in the stitching of this flag. The resilience, creativity, beauty, discomfort and fear of our blackness is everywhere, connected into and out of the Black diaspora. We flip billions of dollars in EBT funds for Louis Vuitton bags, 40oz’s of relaxation, and studio time for soundclout. We began as innovators, optimists and artists- in 2018 we still are. We are heroes for it. We are killed for it. We live for it.
36x48in. Arcylic, Canvas.
I needed to be explicit in the frivolous state sanction violence against Black and Brown LGBTQ people. I wanted to illustrate the disproportionately of violence in scale against someone who was youthful, who should be free, who should be able to move without aggression from individuals or systems created in conflict to their beauty.
40x30in. Arcylic, Canvas.
The title is not the price of the painting. It is the 2016 Maryland Budget for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), colloquially usually referred to as EBT. Characterization of the Maryland EBT card embodies government assistance, a need- not a supplement that is underfunded and exemplifies a macro need for a solution to food inaccessibility to poor, Black people. This program, nor this system solves this problem wholly.
40x30in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Someone is idolizing fabric, patterns, colors made of racism, xenophobia, classism, and a robust example of intersecting oppressions. As of 2017, eighteen (18) states/stars had not expanded Medicaid/Medicare coverage allocated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act ( ObamaCare). Eighteen states with higher mortality and morbidity rates from preventable causes compared to states that expanded their healthcare access. This is what people dream of, this is what I see when I listen to their dreams.
33x14in. Arcylic, Canvas.
Instant noodles, pack of cigarettes, Petroleum Jelly.Coping mechanisms are multi-directional (positive, negative, neutral). Each of these coping mechanisms, these practices of self-love, that can harm hold beauty for their duality. As a unit they are substance, beauty, and effective.
48x36in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Digital spaces have facilitated an massive age of persona’s, embolden personalities and facades that the internet holds on the same level as all else. As people, and people have shifted the preferences and standards of what we consume; music, food, theory, information, etc... Personalities have changed to stake their claim. I wonder, what are the implications of that on your mental health? On the mental health of others?
32x20in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Self love and self harm are separated by a permeable boundary, if not interchangeable. In moderation, shopping or drinking are perfectly fine and effective methods of self love. In excess, out of your bounds of control or accountability they are potentially painful causes of loss and or harm to your well being or your surroundings. Two examples of this within a masculine, feminine black binary that exhibited this were no other than these illustrations of a 40oz and a Louis Vuitton bag.
Anatomy both answers and asks you many questions. What were you born with (genetics), where were you raised (environment),and who are you becoming? It tells us love is not always beautiful and that beauty can be defined by you. Your teeth are not all perfectly white and white is not perfect. The gaps in your teeth are not too wide and your heart is strong. Old knees are full of wisdom and young knees are full of bounce. Both are powerful, both can coexist and both are necessary. Anatomy asks you to question your equilibrium with your physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional capacity and cognition of life. It asks you to look at the impact your surroundings on your individual self.
24x36in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Duality. This and Left Hand #1 very much are about the duality within one being. These two pieces really look at me as two paths: a soul, a community, any form of life can travel down. They exemplify the subtlety of environmental impacts, physical, mental, and emotional manifestations on canvas- on an illustration of the body continually in use. They are flat and multicolored, saturated.
24x36in
Duality. This and Left Hand #2 very much are about the duality within one being. These two pieces really look at me as two paths: a soul, a community, any form of life can travel down. They exemplify the subtlety of environmental impacts, physical, mental, and emotional manifestations on canvas- on an illustration of the body continually in use. They are flat and multicolored, saturated.
36x36in. Acrylic, Canvas.
It’s a tool, a mechanism to decision. This is in partnership with heart, body and soul, pieces that make up you in whole. We only look at this in abstract today as an idea or a feeling even as something so often seen as pure logic.
16x20in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Again, as a part of the body and a tool for communication and decision your ear is a symbol of wholism. Are you listening to yourself and the world around? Are you hearing your clearly, are you questioning your stimuli?
18x24in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Your heart is special, to me. You can not deprive it for too long. It’s grasp on our lives is insurmountable and must not only be assuaged but tended to carefully. It exudes delicate power in any form.
18x24in. Acrylic, Canvas.
Connectivity. Bone, muscle, cartilage, blood, and so on moving through the body. What are you in this system, are you a part of this system? Does it work for you? For some it is a well oiled machine, for others it is how we escape death.
20x16in. Acrylic, Canvas.
A vessel to your heart and mind, another tool. It is another pathway to communicating your livelihood and the lives of others. If can lead to prosperity, understanding, death, confusion and/or sharing great knowledge and experiences.
