STATEMENT OF WORK

My art is influenced by the fluidity of memories and experiences as a Black American; I blend digital collage, acetate, and painted surfaces. I create surrealistic and chaotic scenes through scale and color manipulation. I explore how perception pieces together incomplete and altered images. Color and emotion inform my artistic practice; together, they enable my paintings to examine the relational nature of color. Using tiny organic brushstrokes and cool shades of blue, I recontextualize violent scenes as calming and comforting as ocean waves. By painting my family and friends' skin tones as if they were photo negatives; my subjects are perceived as individuals existing without the prejudices of race, while simultaneously embodying a symbolic representation of those othered in society

My work consists of two or more figures which have been collaged or painted into a background. I have my subjects in motion to emphasize the human form and overdramatized movements in the theater. These visual elements are necessary for the audience to view the image as a staged representation of life, rather than an exact copy. A large part of my process involves phones and technology. I paint images from photographs taken with my phone .As well as use my phone to manipulate color. Viewers of my work are encouraged to use their cellular devices to change their display setting to classic invert, this would revert the negative parts of the pantings to their original form. The blue subjects within the art are revealed as black bodies in the background. The phone act as a tool to create a dialogue on how technology influences, how we view information and misinformation.

My large-scale paintings are an ambiguous representation of my conflicting feelings, struggles, and relationships between myself and my surroundings. My work is created as a reflection of violence in mundane, everyday life. My artwork encourages viewers to confront how race and abuse are represented in society.