I believe our mysterious origin is common ground in which the universe encourages human action toward the betterment of humankind. Art provides an avenue to explore issues of faith, human frailty, and spirituality. After visiting Haiti, I seriously began to work on a series of Spirit Sculptures meant to occupy an altar-like setting as a concept to harness blessings and healing. The wall panels are mixed-media assemblages in which I started by using acrylic paint and reflective materials and by covering surfaces with fabric, sequins, beads, and objects to create a kind of visual narrative with found materials. I’m interested in the idiosyncratic ways that materials convey meaning and the conceptual framework they offer. The sculptures and panels are manipulated to reflect and receive light. Each piece represents a totemic spirit sculpture or panel collaged with beads, wood, mirrors, plastic figurines, sequins, fabric, and hand-sculpted heads. Snakes, mermaids, saints, and birds are all effigies found in a variety of global cultures. Sometimes I incorporate the figure as a liminal entity connecting us to a more magical and perhaps empowered state of existence. As with many sacred objects, I want the work to live outside of our current day-to-day experience; it is intended to evoke the possibilities of spiritual connection and transformation, memory and loss, celebration and mourning. My work is informed by an evolving worldview of cultures from an African American perspective that migrated to the Americas in memory of those enslaved. It is the history of beliefs meant to serve as both a sacred ode and a spiritual manifesto. My travels to Africa, Haiti, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and the Far East inform some of the imagery, and I try to translate my travel experiences into metaphorical images using symbols, found materials and, occasionally, video. The rich aesthetic traditions from Africa that have emerged in my work are contributed through color, patterns, myths, and religions.
