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Hiding in Plain Sight

Racial Gaslighting, hides in plain sight in everyday interactions. It subtly shifts dialog from a racist topic at hand onto the accuser – forcing them to question and re-assess their own response to racism, rather than the racism itself.

“You’re being overly dramatic.”

“Are you sure it was about race?”

“I’m sure he/she didn’t mean it like that.”

Intentional or not, these types of comments trigger a spiral of self-doubt and create a convenient way to avoid uncomfortable conversations about race.  

The constant questioning, twisting and undermining of what I know to be true – has had a compound negative affect upon me, manifesting in insomnia, anxiety and hefty amounts of emotional baggage. Through these works, I am exercising these demons.

This exhibition explores implicit biases facing BIPOC communities and the aesthetic armor for protection I have created to shield myself.

The show will be on view in MoCADA’s virtual exhibition hall from May 3, 2021 to July 5, 2021. Viewing link to follow. Sneak peak below…

  • Wide Load
  • Redistricting
  • Porcupine Zip Tie
  • Purple Fiesta
  • Mind Over Matter
  • I Can’t Breathe
  • Caution Baggage Cart
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You Are So Articulate

This Summer, my weaving, You Are So Articulate, will be at the 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond hosted on site and virtually at The Newark Museum of Art from June 15th until August 22, 2021. 

In this weaving, each piece of yarn is representative of a conversation in 2020 where I was acknowledged for being able to express my thoughts and ideas. Being told I’m well-spoken is a back handed compliment and carries the connotation that, it is unusual for someone of my race to be intelligent or eloquent. 

The completed weaving is displayed on a DYI loom, as if, it is still a work in progress because some version of this conversation, continues still, till this very day.

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Emotional Baggage Carts

We all carry emotional baggage. This manifests differently for each of us. Some of us carry shopping carts of pain and bitterness while some of us sport a tote bag. How we choose to handle our baggage makes a difference. We have the choice, to let it define us or to let it go and move forward.

My Baggage Carts are vessels for unresolved emotional baggage related to racial trauma. Each recovered shopping cart is woven with polyurethane rope, solar rope lights, doggie poop bags, plastic bottle caps and zip ties.

Redistricting

March 2021, Bottle Caps, yellow 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

Heights Over Springfield

March 2021, Bottle Caps, green 550 paracord, hollow braided polyurethane rope, recycled commercial fishing net, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

I Can’t Breathe -CPAC Baggage Cart

February 2021, CPAC Tubing, solar rope lights, gold 550 paracord, zip ties, gold spray paint on recovered shopping cart. 36 x 40 x 24 in, 50LBs

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Wow… just wow.

Can I please take a moment to geek out for a second?

Just feast your eyes upon my ponytails, the beautiful grace of dancer, Aanyse Pettiford-Chandle and Megan Maloy’s stunning Photography.

Wow, just wow…

People Place Disruption premieres on April 28th as a virtual event with dance film and discussion as part of Nimbus Dance’s Spring 2021 season: A collaborative work which draws together dancers and choreographers of Nimbus Dance with Jersey City visual artists to reflect back and process the exceptional confluence of social, environmental, health, and economic upheaval that our community, and the world face at present. The project aims to affirm and empower artists and collaborative action, exploring underlying webs between people, place and the disruptive times we live in. .

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Death by 10,000 Paper Cuts

Death by 10,000 Paper Cuts uses recovered commercial fishing net, 10,000 zip ties and silk sari yarn to illuminate the impact of microaggressions.

The term, Death by a thousand cuts is derived from a form of Chinese torture known as lingchi, where a person is subjected to hundreds of small cuts until death occurs.

If you get one papercut, it is uncomfortable, but the wound eventually heals. Imagine getting multiple paper cuts on a daily basis.

Small cuts upon cuts upon cuts. This is what microaggressions feels like. You will not die from one paper cut, but the experience of multiple insults, both verbal, nonverbal, and/ visual underpins very real consequences for me… stress, anger, frustration, self-doubt and ultimately feelings of invisibility and powerlessness. 

Viewpoints 2021

Exhibit Dates: April 23 – May 28, 2021

Opening Reception: Sunday, April 25, 2-4:30pm

Location: Studio Montclair Gallery; 127 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07042

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People, Place, Disruption

A Collective Dance/Art Project by Nimbus Dance and Jersey City Artists

A flood of voices: untapped, unheard, enraged. New voices. Young voices. Stifled voices. Voices that stretch the confines of our worldview. Voices that uncover identity. Voices that are exquisite. In People Place Disruption, the artistic voices of a community unite to reflect on the past year. This collective, brought together by Nimbus Dance of Jersey City, includes choreographers, visual artists, video designers, photographers, lighting designers, and filmmakers – a vehicle that summons strength through individual voice and in unified action. People Place Disruption is a multimedia project that illustrates a path forward – unveiled through collective creation.

The artwork of Jennifer Brown, Isabelle Duverger, Myssi Robinson, Melida Rodas, Theda Sandiford, William Stamos, Rachel Terres, Joe Velez will be exhibited in the Gallery at Nimbus Arts Center on Sundays from April 11-May 9

will premiere on April 28th as a virtual event with dance film and discussion as part of Nimbus Dance’s Spring 2021 season: A collaborative work which draws together dancers and choreographers of Nimbus Dance with Jersey City visual artists to reflect back and process the exceptional confluence of social, environmental, health, and economic upheaval that our community, and the world face at present. The project aims to affirm and empower artists and collaborative action, exploring underlying webs between people, place and the disruptive times we live in. 

Tickets available for the performance: HERE

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Virtual Solo Show at MoCADA

This exhibition explores implicit biases facing BIPOC communities and my aesthetic armor for protection.

The show will be on view in MoCADA’s virtual exhibition from May 3, 2021 to July 5, 2021.

Some key dates…

Virtual “Opening/Preview / Tour”: Thursday, April 29, 2021 from 7-9PM

Virtual Artist Talk: Thursday, May 27, 2021 from 7-9PM

Workshop: Saturday, June 12, 2021 at 3-5PM

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2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond

2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond

When the Newark Museum of Art announced the artists whose works will be featured in the upcoming exhibition: 2021 New Jersey Arts Annual: ReVision and Respond, I missed my acceptance email and had no idea I was in the show until I had missed a communication deadline and the museum reached out and checked up on me. Doh…

The exhibition will open on Thursday, June 17 and will be on view through Sunday, August 22. This year’s exhibition jurors are Kristen J. Owens, Associate Curator (Programs) for Rutgers University-Newark’s Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark, and Amy Simon Hopwood, Associate Curator of Decorative Arts at The Newark Museum of Art. Together, they reviewed more than 1,800 entries from 484 artists across New Jersey. The jurors selected 50 works by 45 artists interpret this year’s ReVision and Respond theme. My weaving, You’re So Articulate will appear in the show.