My Experience Series

Heart Strings addresses my frustrations with folks who feel they have a right to my hair, my body, my Blackness, and my identity. It is a reflection of my experiences as a Black woman in a White world with Euro-centric beauty standards.

I created Family Photo as a way to validate my own history and racial identity, often forgotten in society. My African culture and heritage were stripped from my ancestry by way of slavery now being written in our history books as “indentured servitude.”

The illustrations in Counterfeit highlight the traits that I, as a Black woman, possess. These traits are often seen as unruly, barbaric, exotic, and overly-sexual — except when applied to someone with white skin.

After the first exhibition which included ‘Heart Strings’ and ‘Family Photo,’ I was asked to speak on a panel at Mia about my work and efforts to increase diversity and inclusion within the design field and AIGA Minnesota. My work was also displayed in the museum. Photo credit: Jay Larson.

These pieces are now being shown in the Tweed Museum of Art in the ‘Fine, Define, Refine’ Art Exhibition until August 2018.