Artist Statement

My work focuses on issues of identity.  Which is nurtured by personal and collective references to my ancestral culture. Working in various mediums such as painting, printmaking, sculpture, and mixed media installations gives voice to multiple layers of my identity.  This binds me to my Neolithic past, as well as, my Indigenous and African Caribbean heritage.

My work explores the different manifestations of nature and the spirit of the African ancestors; they give voice to some of their stories activating both physical and spiritual spaces.

In 1997, I traveled to Ghana to study Batik and visit the fortresses where Africans were kept before they were shipped to the Americas. This trip was a turning point in my art making process; it initiated my interest of printing woodcuts onto satin fabric. It also introduced me to the world of the Adinkra symbols. Adinkra symbolism is a system of visual and verbal imagery that contains poetic messages, proverbs or aphorisms and when decoded they reveal legends, history, and the myths of the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa. From these symbols, I use the Sankofa image of a bird, which refers to the idea of retracing steps, or going back to the past to reclaim the past.

In my woodcuts, I use the Adinkra symbolism derived from traditional Adinkra cloths that represents the Sankofa bird, which is part of a complex vocabulary of symbols distinctive of the Akan people from South Central Ghana, West Africa.  Conceptually, I am using the Sankofa-Adinkra symbol to bring me back to my source. Sankofa links me to my African lineage in the Diaspora.  Using the Sankofa symbol as an icon serves as a tool or bridge to access my history and claim my heritage.  The symbol affirms who I am and serves as a symbol of empowerment.