Growing up in the city was about seeing the ladders too close to the street. It was mosquitoes eating me alive in the humid heat. It was a wet cold, that doesn’t come around often, but when it does, it’s so harsh. Gunshots but no sirens. It was knowing exactly which one of your neighborhood friends did it. This is my New Orleans experience.

They come for the culture, yet my culture is silenced. It’s censored when it becomes too raw, too real, too vulnerable, or worse. They commercialize our culture for their own economic gain and tell the natives to “play for scraps elsewhere”. They pack their bags after the beads have been caught, the party has ended, and WE grow to pick up the pieces.

I am an artist because of my community. The primary theme that drives my art practice today is celebrating the beauty of black childhood and how black youth practice their artistic expression. At the same time, my work serves to correct the biases, stigmas, and assumptions surrounding New Orleans culture. As a native, I share the stories of not only myself but others.

As an interdisciplinary artist, I showcase these stories through different techniques including lithography, intaglio, graphite, painting, and ceramics. I find that an interdisciplinary practice sharpens my vision, illuminates unexpected facets of subjects, and generates new approaches and ideas. Each medium allows a new freedom of expression and the images and narrative offers a different slant; a new way of more complexly conveying emotion and looking at emotion.

My work uses images to engage in forms of youth expression, imagination, and themes of the black urban experience. I aim to create a space where black children can see themselves having good moments-- being allowed just to be. The way kids grow into their unfixed identity is the product of multiple factors, including the influences of family, community, and the culture of home. Each piece is filled with fully rendered figures juxtaposed with adolescent illustrations. I add youthful and energetic elements to my compositions in order to help create a sense of self-empowerment and inclusion for any viewer.