A sunrise radiates spring along a sunflower field. My wife, Misha, draped in a white dress, admires a single sunflower; this portrait symbolizes the uniqueness of our alignment of mutual appreciation through life and love.
This series celebrates BIPOC warrior womxn who have dedicated their lives to liberation. There are many ways to break a paradigm and all of these womxn have done so through choosing to live lives that served the greater good of their people.
The pieces are works of process. Created during eclipses, these works plumb the depths of reflective practice and portray moments of self-realization and divine self-acceptance. The invitation is to see oneself in not only the artwork itself, but in and as part of the larger processes of the cosmos.
These portraits highlight the beauty of the Alkebulanian diaspora and challenges the common cultural narrative that paints this diaspora as peoples to be devalued, marginalized, and oppressed.
This series is a meditation on hustle. Titled after one of hip-hop producer J Dilla’s well-known produced hits, this body of work explores the dangerous and treacherous fish trade in Somalia as a parallel to the world of the music industry in America. Although the trades are different, the dynamics of exploitation by a market that will chew up and spit you out is the same.
Inspired by hundreds of hours of mindfulness meditation, these works travel through various states of mind that can be encountered in the practice of developing one’s conscious awareness.
This series was inspired by a commission for a jazz festival in Los Angeles. Titled after the iconic John Coltrane album, each portrait shows a contemporary, boundary breaking musician being backed by buildings that have historically been incubators for Black musical talent.
In Swahili, bwanna mwalimu translates to “master teacher”, one who has developed their gifts and skills to be of deep service to their community. This series celebrates the bwanna mwalimu that have been leaders and champions for civil rights in the BIPOC community.
An homage to the music makers who sustain my soul. Through their embodiment and expression of the rhythms of life, these creators have been guides, muses, and mentors in my creative journey, as well as companions in getting through this thing we call life.
This series celebrates the goddess at work with each work representing a different Black womxn with natural hair thriving in her element. In this, the “background” is brought to the fore as the womxn themselves are understood to be part of the power of nature, not separate from it.
This series is dedicated to the ancestors, the wise ones that have been before us. In indigenous African spirituality the ancestors play an essential and critical role in the well-being of their descendants, us. I believe that they guide and protect us and this series explores that synergistic relationship.
This series plays with the ways we project meaning onto what we read from other people’s expressions. Inspired by the iconically enigmatic expression of Mona Lisa, by using Black womxn as the subject I question society’s gaze and interpretation of them. As the subjects themselves give away little, the viewer must essentially confront themselves in the meanings they attach to what they see.
These works portray artists who have experienced great career success who also committed themselves to sharing that success with the communities that made them.