Exhibition Summary: Transcendent Iconography Series
Throughout my artistic career, I have often used art as a tool for both purging myself of all that was too much to bear and simultaneously making a socio-political statement. As an African American woman in the U.S., so many strong and complex emotions are kindled while walking in this skin—it feels impossible to hold them inside and shameful to not speak out against the innumerable institutional injustices affecting so many lives. My work was often narrative, at times quite literal, and always reflective of those strong emotions. Perhaps this socio-political primordial soup is where my heavy-handed use of materials, sharply contrasting tones, and emotive figures first evolved.
At some point along my journey, I developed a yearning for healing, for some iconography that gave those emotions a transcendent purpose and gave me a cathartic and rejuvenating feeling. I began to use the bodies of the figures I created as a site of power and dialogue. I adorned them with empowering symbols, highlighted their inner strengths with gilded emblems, and gave them a spiritual purpose. They were contradicting negative stereotypes without needing to address them directly. Creating these figures became a ritual, a visual tool for self-transformation, and I hoped the viewers would have transcendent experiences as well.
I am using the human body as a transcendent icon. The subjects of my work are the embodiments of socio-cultural, political, and spiritual journeys. My hope is that they become universal figures partnering with the viewer in a journey towards healing, transformation, and community empowerment.
Bower Birds and Dandelions
Summary:
This figure represents beauty in the ordinary, and the true power in that which is too often overlooked. In nature, the bower bird creates beautiful art by colorfully composing bits of what humans discarded into a love nest. The dandelion is both a discarded weed and a powerfully healing herb. Similarly, this piece is a reminder that marginalized people hold great value.
As a Feather
Summary:
“As a Feather” is a visual interpretation of the adage-keep your heart as light as a feather. In ancient Egypt, it was said that at the time of death each heart would be weighed against an ostrich feather before the soul could pass into the afterlife. This ancient wisdom encourages us todo the rigorous work of transcending the myriad of hardships we face in life-to not let suffering.
Heart as Light
Summary:
The ancient Egyptians spoke of the heart needing to be as light as a feather in order to transcend into the afterlife, and the sun-printed feathers adorning this figure are a visual and symbolic touchstone for that task.
Abiding Faith
Summary:
The golden stream of the Adinkra symbol for an eternal quest for knowledge (Nea Onnim NoSua A Ohu) and the African yellow-billed hornbill totems looking ever upward, render this figure as a bridge between knowledge and faith.This piece serves as a reminder that there need not be conflict between science/religion, the seen and the unseen. Instead, truth and human advancement can be found in their unity.
Resurrection
Summary:
This figure is a prayer for the black man’s power of resurrection and renewal in the U.S. today.The Egyptian blue lotus that rises to blossom out of the swamp each morning is his totem.
Transfiguration
Summary:
This figure represents the continuous need for the black woman to both present a transfigured image of herself to the world, and to redefine her identity in response to the world. Here she is fueled by and anointed with feathers (their images transfigured by sunlight onto paper), which represent transcendence and the ability to soar.
Tehuti’s Conquest
Summary:
Tehuti is the ancient Egyptian scribe and keeper of knowledge-he is symbolized here by the sacred geometry pattern of Metatron’s cube, whose gilded pattern represents spiritual knowledge. This backdrop, her bird totems and her anointed hands reflect the true spirit and power of this young girl.
An Unrelenting Balm
Summary:
This image of a living Congolese refugee is an icon for the transcendent power of art. The medicinal flowers are ritually layered over the area of her war wounds. The energy of their symbolism and my intention/prayer pass across the Diaspora to bolster her in life, not simply in image.
Transmission
Summary:
This archetype represents the need for the transmission of ancient knowledge, truth, and identity-represented by the 80million year old South African protea flower.
House of Fortitude
Summary:
The Adinkra symbol for a house with a strong foundation is brought to life by the unity of the Black man and woman, anointed by plants with both earthly and spiritual uses. The African Dream Root has long been taken as a tea to enhance ancestral communication, and the Red Palm has traditional uses in cooking, healing, and spiritual practices.
Did Not Your Morning Start With Darkness
Summary:
The title “Did Not Your Morning Start With Darkness” is gleaned from a line in a Midnite song and is a call to reframe the negative characterization of blackness. The black Madonna, with a gilded heart/core, is both honoring the first dark mother who birthed humanity, and challenging viewers to see blackness as powerful, as beautiful, as the source, and as the counterpoint (not opposite) to light. Her halo is a crown of the Adinkra symbol Hye Won Hye, “that which can not be burned”. It represents imperishability and is a prayer for the continued endurance of the Black community against oppression.
Snake in The Raffia Tree
Summary:
This figure personifies the Adinkra symbol inscribed across her face, the “snake climbing the raffia tree” (Owo Foro Adobe), as the tree is thorny and the snake is limbless but victorious. She is anointed with and surrounded by the medicinal devil’s claw plant, a name which alludes to the treacherous world she/we must navigate.
Through The Veil
Summary:
This archetypal figure, anointed with ancient Egyptian glyphs for the star, the feather (of Maat), and the sail, is a reminder that we have everything we need to navigate through any veiled or obstructed way. There is an inner/higher guidance that is always accessible.
Apogee
Summary:
In astrology, the apogee is the point in the orbit of the moon or a satellite at which it is furthest from the earth. This piece is a reflection on the cycle of human experience, uplifting elderhood in the sunset of a life(time). Cranes are a symbol of longevity.
Gleanings
Summary:
This figure represents the whispers of knowing we can glean to guide us on our path.
Land of Look Behind
Summary:
Cockpit Country in Jamaica is called the "Land of Look Behind". Its rugged and in hospitable landscape provided refuge and protection for Maroons (escaped slaves), who expertly used the landscape to engage in guerilla warfare against theBritish. British soldiers riding through the area often had to ride two to a horse, with one rider facing backward to constantly“look behind”and watch for potential ambushes from the Maroons hiding in the dense, rugged terrain. This piece honors both the land that embraces and protects her children, and the people who were forced to master survival in the harshest of environments.
Madonna Resurrected
Summary:
This image of a living Congolese refugee is an icon for the transcendent power of art. The medicinal flowers are ritually layered over the areas of her war wound-the arm that should be able to cradle her child. The energy of the flower’s symbolism and my intention/prayer passes across the Diaspora to bolster her in life, not simply in image.
Multilingual Transmission
Summary:
This portrait is a reminder of the energy/wisdom inherent in all things-plant, animal, and mineral. This elder, across all natural divides, is able to understand the language of creation.
Odyssey
Summary:
This Odyssey depicts a journey into self-discovery. Gazing inwardly the figure faces herself, in radiant essence.
Roots And Fruits
Summary:
This figure is a reminder that in order to have flourishing fruits, our community must have powerful roots. We must reach back to ancestral wisdom to anchor and nourish us today.
Sankofa
Summary:
This son is the embodiment of inheritance-we can inherit both the trauma and resilience of our ancestors. The West African principle of Sankofa reminds us to“go back and fetch”that which will serve us in the present and future.
Sentinel
Summary:
The Grey Lourie, who has a sharp call, is said in Zulu lore to shout at enemies and warn people of negative spirits. This piece is a reminder of the need to keep vigilant and protect our communities.
Surrender the Supplicants
Summary:
These figures in supplicant pose come from a documentary photo of Congolese women at the foot of a soldier, who, with rifle in hand, is confiscating the wood they harvested within a protected guerilla habitat zone, without which they cannot survive. This backstory brings to bear the complex need to examine, strategize for, and bring into balance the needs and rights of all, but the pose in this piece is transfigured and its pain is transmuted. These women are at the foot of an unknowable transcendent power, and are supported across a divide by an unseen force.This piece explores the liminal space where surrender can be a sacred endeavor.
Survival
Summary:
This figure, crowned with the Adinkra symbol for “time’s changes”, is holding a Crested GuineaFowl. It'sZulu and BaSotho names come from verbs that mean to hurry or to wake up in the morning and go to work. This piece symbolizes the human effort towards survival.
Victory
Summary:
This figure personifies his totem, the Bateleur Eagle, which in Zulu cosmology represents “victory in a cruel and pitiless world”.
Connection
Summary:
This figure transcends barriers by maintaining a thread of connection to the unseen world, which overlaps ours like the circles of the vesica piscis- representing the interface of the physical/spiritual worlds.