Artist's Statement

My work seeks to examine and uplift the indomitable spirit of the queer Black male in today’s social climate. A certain reticence about gay male sexuality comes into question, followed by an exploration of locating the queer Black male body’s role in society and even within the microcosm of gay male politics. Divination, fairy tale, folklore, and mythology greatly influence the narrative element within my paintings as I build my own creation myth of the queer Black male. I use the language of classical mythology and contemporary stereotype to illuminate a small fraction of that identity.

In Shift, the works feature a range of ways in which I think of transformation and shapeshifting, particularly in its relation to one’s understanding of self. In the paintings, I reimagine various Major Arcana Tarot card compositions, allowing my own impulses and symbols to intermingle with the preexisting canon of artists’, illustrators’, and practitioners’ imagery. Self-portraits donning the hairstyles of music icons reference both drag performers as well as my own lighthearted attempts during childhood to embrace my own queerness and femininity.

Large-scale portraits of iconic cinematic Black female vampiresses playfully celebrate the power and sensuality of transformation. I use fantasy and fiction to imagine ways to solve real problems and to discover new things about how we navigate the world.