these pieces all mean a lot to me, some of them are foundational records, some are recent favorites. I love sitting in my room and listening to records because at the end of the day, artists, whether visual or musical, both are rewarded for their ability to take good risk. In my opinion, risk is the greatest currency of art-making. I think everything about this move feels like a risk.

even this art presentation today took a lot of time to settle on doing. it’s highly personal, and can also feel self-centered, but I am choosing to be celebratory and share in that moment with my friend Ben. I have committed to art in so many ways outside of academia, and I am thankful to Atlanta for that, so this show is for Atlanta.

Solange is a big inspiration of mine, for many reasons, but the most prominent is her ability to embody the phrase Marshall McLuhan coined in the 60s, which is “the medium is the message.” In addition to directing her own art archival organization centered on Black art, she has called herself a “performance artist” shifting mediums as necessary to communicate the message at-hand.

not only has she scored a ballet, but she has also collaborated with a glass blower to create one of a kind glassware. recently, she has taken to creating a lot of live events around Saint Heron, the aforementioned organization, to continue the preservation of Black Art. in many ways, Saint Heron gives example to the kinds of spaces I want to cultivate with NEW GEN.

some of the pieces on the wall include:

• my niece’s high school abstract painting [bottom right]

• an image I captured in Big Sur with a dried flower in frame, from Shantae’s funeral, my childhood best friend [second from bottom right]

• a collage made in the company of friends at a collage-making art night, featuring historic Black women in fine art that I shared on the NEW GEN [bottom left]

• my copycat version of a Johanna Bloomstedt painting [reference here] made on a paint and sip night with my friend, Dre [center]

• a drawing made by Ben [bottom left]

• a painting by Evan Blackwell, a local Atlanta painter who I really admire for her grounding abstract pieces, and lively tonal choices [top right]

• the small yellow graphic next to Blackwell’s is from an arts organization called Black Radical Imagination. back in 2015 their organization curated an evening of cinema at Syracuse that brought me to tears in it’s symbolic references to being a Black churched kid
  

there are many many books that I want to own, but the ones on display are the ones I have invested in, been gifted, and accumulated over the years. the image of the young girl is a photo by my friend, Lachelle of her niece. the Ebony magazines accumulated at the collage-making party I mentioned above, and I also proudly own the Vogue September issue shot by Tyler Mitchell back in 2018. the youngest and first Black photographer to ever shoot the cover of U.S. Vogue in its 126 year history. I’ve already seen his exhibition currently up @ The High five times. another proud magazine moment is the Rihanna x Lorna Simpson Essence cover. I even keep a hat on the built ins, not because I still wear it, but because it was bought with my last pennies from a local NYC company called Clyde, the morning I flew into New York City for my first and only fashion week invite. In my early undergraduate career, I had aspirations of being a fashion and magazine journalist. that has changed, but it reminds me I’m adaptable, and also wild because will always go broke for art and a dream lol. *sigh*

ANYWAY, I MADE A PHOTOBOOK!

IT CAN BE PRE-ORDERED BELOW. IT CHRONICLES MY MOST RECENT TRIP BACK HOME TO JAMAICA.

THERE ARE ONLY 20! YOU CAN PREVIEW IT HERE.

if you would like to contribute to the art school fund, that would be incredible. as you can imagine, school is not cheap, and neither is moving abroad. I appreciate you all so much for being here, and contributing in any way to my future, be it by presence, donation, or prayers, I am just grateful. not many people decide to go back to school at 30, leaving the present path behind, so it takes more and more faith each day to double down on myself in this next decade, but I have full belief this is the next step for me, and I can’t wait to explore the next stage of my creative life. I am privileged to be able to do this. without the community I have gained in Atlanta, this would not to possible. It was always going to be London, but it was also always going to be gratitude for this space and the people here who’ve blessed me. I’ll be back! <3