I am a visual artist working in collage, assemblage sculpture and altered books. My practice explores identity, memory and the history of the African diaspora. Vintage and contemporary images collide to convey how the past informs the present.


Chaos

Yes, I realize the irony of this post, coming from someone who chose to have more than one child. Tally and Catherine, you can stop laughing now.

Finally thought of a few other ideas for the book I started in LK Ludwig's "This is Me" class at Artfest 2008. I did finish the pages she taught us how to do, didn't worry about finishing the project. But the downside of that positive attitude is that I didn't feel pressure to finish it... and I got kinda stuck.

Then I got some silvery tissue paper in a gift during my baby shower. (Which I still need to send out thank you notes for. Gah.) And suddenly I thought of the black lace paper in my stash, and it made me think of stars struggling to be seen in the night sky of the city.
And I thought of chaotic times that have turned into something worth the agony, much like, oh, childbirth.
That's my dad and mother-in-law dancing at my wedding. Don't you hate it when you say to yourself, "well, that'll never happen again" and you're right?

LK's class encouraged us to fiddle with our photos as a way to explore self-portraiture... paint over images, use them to create silhouettes on metal mesh, etc. So I used an iridescent acrylic (can't look it up right now, baby sleeping on chest) on the focal photo.I usually stay away from anything that reminds me of gold or silver lamé -- gives me flashbacks of old women in Palm Springs -- but this worked for me.

Oh, it doesn't show signs of stoppin'...

Ba ba ba ba/ Ba da ba/ Ba ba bada ba...