Statement

My paintings are a catalog of my bouts of confidence and swings of insecurity, my pursuit of activism and my fears of speaking out, my assertiveness and my questioning. I know all too well that many people I encounter have a certain agenda for talking to me: the allure and fetishization of mixed-race people, the societal obsession with light skin, or the way that I can be Black but still satisfy certain white patriarchal expectations. I also recon with the fact that my story is one of privilege, and many of my peers face daily harassment. I interrogate the ways that society influences Black queer bodies, including my own. While my work showcases or exposes certain societal phenomena through realistic, figurative painting, all of my work begins with an interpersonal, emotionally salient interaction. I use my practice to untangle these relationships, uncover more about my own identity, and promote discussion.

I use collage, the “gaze,” and self portraiture. Found photos from mainstream pop culture magazines showcase the tangible ways that white, heteronormative, patriarchal expectations are constantly projected onto viewers. I’m interested in subverting the power and toxicity of the collaged materials and asserting the power dynamic between viewer and figure. Because it’s important to me that my figures are empowered, I must be acutely aware that the medium of painting lends itself to minimize the subject’s autonomy and objectify the bodies represented. This point of conflict is at the heart of my work. I showcase this conflict through the bold, shiny magazine images with more traditional, careful oil painting, laboring over the skin and details of the body. The Black femme bodies I paint have always been in control of the hands of the white man and they gaze, with direct and self-assured confidence, at the viewer. Prompting my viewer, of any gender, to confront their own desires, passions, and biases is one of the ways I both empower the figures I represent, and showcase the reality of our place in American social order.