My practice is rooted in process, materiality, and the body as a site of memory, pressure, and becoming. Through large-scale, draped paintings, I explore states of balance, tension, and transformation shaped by lived experience, collective history, and systemic structures. Rather than seeking resolution, the work remains open, reflecting the ongoing nature of growth and self-determination.

Each painting begins with a black underpainting, a subtle yet intentional deconstruction of Western narratives surrounding aesthetics, purity, and beauty. This foundational layer positions Blackness not as absence, but as origin, depth, and ground. From this base, I build surfaces through layered applications of acrylic paint, interior paint, wood stains, oil pastels, and pencil. Earth tones drawn from melanin-rich skin palettes anchor the work in both the body and the land, while expressive mark-making accumulates as traces of labor, rhythm, and presence.

The canvas is cut, shaped, and draped directly onto the wall using exposed nails, allowing it to fold, sag, and pull away from its support. These sculptural gestures introduce weight and vulnerability, transforming the painting into a bodily presence rather than a fixed image. The wall becomes an active site of resistance and containment, emphasizing physical engagement and spatial tension.

My mark-making references gestures found across indigenous and ancestral visual languages—not as quotation, but as embodied knowledge and repetition. These marks speak to a universal pursuit of freedom, dignity, and belonging, extending beyond singular narratives of time or place.

Through material exploration and physical engagement with the canvas, my work reflects both personal and collective experience. I consider the act of making as a form of listening—to history, to the body, and to what continues to shape how we move through the world. In this way, my practice honors inherited knowledge while carving space for presence, reflection, and transformation.