About Coffee Legs
He paced in the shadows of the kitchen.
I sat on the bar stool chair that was given to him by a former professor.
"Just a gift" he had said, "Just a gift."
Him, clearly mad.
Me, feeling not too bad.
He talked. I listened.
Our gaze was distracted as I slowly looked down
A sliver of warm sunlight cross contouring my thighs
How fascinating the light of the sun's caress
This brown in my skin is truly a gift.
I thought "This is something he will never understand."
Inspired by the Nina Simone Song “Four Women”
These paintings are part of a series that celebrates the struggles, experiences, and strength of the black female body.
I wanted to highlight the grace with which we carry all that we have to walk through life, things forced upon us and burdens not belonging to us.
“Strong enough to take the pain, inflicted again and again.”
There were times when we were down and we had to crawl to survive, times we had to run and wail to survive. In all of that, and with all those experiences, still, we rise and walk triumphantly. Sometimes we walk like Peaches and are labeled ‘Angry’.
The Absence of Black Bodies in Traditional Art Narratives
This painting is a part of a series of works that address the absence of black bodies in traditional art narratives.
In this series, I wanted to include the presence of black people in stories where we fit, but have been intentionally extinguished and deleted, thereby ‘conning’ some people into believing that black people can’t be in these stories.
Now suddenly the memory of Daniel’s words comes to me “His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like clean wool…”
I want us to see ourselves in the sacred places and stories of the past and know that we belong in the ones to come, despite what others think.
He is an icon for those whose stories deserve to be told.
Unrequited Love and Internal Conflicts
In this piece we see Daphney in her moment of transition after she has been violated by Apollo…
Unrequited love and internal conflicts. In this piece we see Daphney in her moment of transition after she has been violated by Apollo.
“He feared that she would fall and injure herself as she fled, and yet he could not give up the chase.”
The myth says that he couldn’t control himself and was under Cupid’s spell. She never desired him and ran from him, like Artemisia to England, and Marget Garner to Ohio. This is the moment right after she tripped and fell to the ground.
“But his hand was on her arm…”
In that moment Daphney begins a transformation that she will never recover from. I believe it’s important that men in our society learn that they can control themselves. Women are not property, responsible for men’s lust, and touching without permission is rape.