During my deep dive into natural healing, herbal medicine, and meditation, I have been connecting with my African and Indigenous American ancestry even more, where for centuries we have been using herbs and materials from the Earth to make art, tell stories and weave destinies. Using hemp fibers hand dyed with herbs, flowers, leaves and vegetables, I continue this legacy by paying homage back to the land.

In my exhibition piece, “Fruiting Bodies”, I create the image of the not so much an animal, and not so much a plant, Fungi. I chose to create the image of fungi because it is the bridge between life and death and hidden connectivity in our ecosystem. I highlight that fungi can be seen as a metaphor for us humans, and the life cycles we experience in our everyday lives. We live and die and are born again every day through every experience. The groundedness of the fungi symbolizes being rooted to the earth, while spreading our roots (mycelium) throughout the soil, connecting with other forms of life near and far.

Exhibited at “Faith Restored” by Jernard Pinckey of Found Wonder Studios