The notion of black identity has been complicated and largely misunderstood. We control neither the construction, nor the distribution of our varied and multilayered stories of self. I am attempting to interrupt the existing narratives with my own. Some of this is done through sculptures, videos, photography and other media, but primarily through drawing.
These drawings are patchwork, counter images to the reductive examples of blackness that prevail in various forms of popular media and culture around the globe. The characters that makeup these drawings are drawn from my interest in science fiction, comic books, history, Hip Hop, and fresh fashion styles. They are portraits of friends and neighbors, and possess an unspoken description of resistance.
These works, out of necessity, speak from a dichotomy of both a western art language and a black popular expression, as this is the duality in which I operate. I work from and seek to reference forms that are relevant to both spaces.