welcome home series

Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, Various sizes

In this series, I juxtapose layers of histories through the complex view of the African and African diaspora experiences of nostalgia for place and time. It is inspired by a 1975 song composed by the Osibisa music band, Ghana, to motivate the African diaspora to return home.

“Welcome Home” references the photographs of Malian Photographer Seydou Keïta. Keïta’s portraits show distinctive West African clothing patterns against his own patterned backdrops and capture the dignity of Africans encountering modernity under colonial rule.

African wax, kente, batik, and tie-dye fabrics on canvas        55 x 40 inches       , 2016

I assembled “We the people: matter most” from more than one hundred and seventy scraps of African wax, Kente, Batik, and tie and dye fabrics, to interpret the traditional United States flag as a symbol that celebrates the diverse communities in the U.S. that I meet through my story circles, all of whom have a migration story. The new symbol honors and tells a story of the marginalized, immigrants, particularly women, whose labor and impact go unacknowledged.”

My interactive process demonstrates a commitment to community, self-love and appreciation, and cultural and historical references, informed by a complex view of the African and African American experience.

Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas         Size 51x36 inches        2018

Mama Ubuntu is an interpretation of the Statue of Liberty to reflect and celebrate the diverse communities in New York, while honoring the marginalized and immigrants whose toil and impact go unappreciated. The portrait is created with features of my mother, Hajia Mariam, Stephanie Alvarado, Janelle Naomi, and Antoinette R. Hamilton. The bravery of Ghanaian Queen Mother Nana Yaa Asantewaa. Her pose in front of a scene from Black Panther movie with the ankh embodies life, wisdom, beauty, confidence, strength, leadership, womanhood, and power. While referencing Nana Yaa Asantewaa’s leadership, the first and only woman war-leader in Asante history who led an army of 5,000 during the Ashanti-British War of the Golden Stool, also known as the "Yaa Asantewaa War,” when the British exiled the King of Ashante, Nana Prempeh I, to the Seychelles Island in 1896, along with other chiefs and members of the Asante government.