Let the work say “Amen”!

If you’re an artist like I am, you’ve probably spent countless hours perfecting your craft. And you’ve done so, not just because you wanna be great but because you thoroughly enjoy the work. There have been moments of pure creativity. This kinda indescribable sensation where inspiration meets execution and you can’t sleep until the work is complete!

Or how about when the idea starts off one way and then over time evolves into a greater one. Faced with the challenge of trying not to “over do” the concept. Wanting to make the point strong but not so much that the message is missed.

On this “work in progress” Wednesday, as I prepare for the African American Cultural Festival in Raleigh North Carolina, I am emboldened to go hard or stay home! I find myself having to give myself a pep talk in my Bronx dialect, “You doin this or nah?!”

With purpose I’ve used specific shades of brown, not to exclude but to emphasize. With thought and pride, I’ve chosen specific colors not just to be different but to bring focus on those things that have been missing. Wanting to set the stage for a new wave of creative thought void of the diluted versions of who we are!

I gotta let the work speak, because if I say too much, “they” might not like my tone giving them just enough reason to ignore the point! I have to let the work get the conversation going so “they’ won’t call me good things like out spoken and aggressive while making them bad words. If you never hear the sound of my voice or understand the tone of my writing, the work has some words for you. The work has some ideas you’ll wanna explore. The work has some thoughts you might have been thinking, but thought no one would listen. You can’t miss it and you can’t say I was too loud cuz I ain’t even say nothing! I let the work do what it do, because too many people are able to tell you what they’re gonna do and NEVER FOLLOW THROUGH! So what does your work say about you?

Metaphysics is the Original WiFi

This custom design meant so much to me that it touched something in me. It ignited parts of me. It gave me so much pride of the black kind that when I finished her and took a million photos to log the design into my portfolio, I wrote a 3 page letter to the customer about what happened to me while I was creating her! I even used brown ink to hand write it! There is something so real and magical about creating, and you won’t ever know this unique feeling until you actually take a piece of who you are and put it into something else. Metaphysics is the original WiFi!

My only regret is that I didn’t make a copy of the letter, but I was so in the moment and sooooooo entranced by the overwhelming feeling I had when I completed her, I didn’t think I needed to keep the record of that! You can actually read the whole first page of the letter in one of the photos! That is if my handwriting isn’t too “fancy” for your eyes! Just reading the front page put me back in that space. And I am renewed all over by the way being creative in this particular way, is much deeper than the visual aspect. Symbolism has become so diluted, watered down and lazy! It’s been turned into a way of saying something without really meaning anything or having to do any of the work to support the message. This design reminds me of how effective symbolism can be when it’s genuine. There is a real vibe that became a part of this design and when she was shipped and received that vibe was also shipped and received. I had to do her Justice because I know the world has an aversion to this combination of details. They call us “too everything”! Too black, too loud, too ghetto, too proud, too aggressive, too poor, too angry, too arrogant, too ignorant… And my question for all that is, “to who?” To all of those who agree that we’re all of those ‘too’s” I say, “COVER YASELF UP, YOUR INFERIORITY IS SHOWING!” It is something very magical about this design and what she meant and still means to who I am and who we are as a people! And that Pan Africanism vibe, that real Black African pride lives in every stitch of this design. And that visual African Pride vibe is realer than WiFi✊🏾❤️🖤💚