Connect What is your favorite type of art to create?

As a southern black woman, I love to create art that depicts figures of people who are often unrepresented. I make art not just to depict them, but to also bring joy, happiness, and pride to the represented cultures in the works. Art is meant to spur discussion, but when it comes to Southern Black culture, those discussions are always centered around pain and suffering. There is so much more to our history. So much creativity and perseverance on the forefront.

Where do you find inspiration?

I mostly find my inspiration from my family and ancestral ties. As a Southern Black woman, naturally I grew up in the kitchen along with the rest of my family. Sitting around the dinner table with folks is the heart of my best memories growing up. So food anthropology and cultural cuisine is the base of meaning behind my work. Food is the easiest way to bring people together. Everyone has a favorite food memory and it’s a source of endless inspiration!

What would you do with $25,000?

I would use it to directly improve my art practice. There are bigger and better projects I want to create but have lacked the funding for. These projects are mostly community focused. There is nothing more important right now, than bringing folks together. We’ve begun to forget our need to spend time together as a society. We’ve become so divided and pitted against each other. The only way we can heal, as a people, is through moments of community. I want to create work that facilitates this.