OKLAHOMA
For the next three years, one of my primary focuses will be on the state of Oklahoma as a fellow with the Tulsa Artist Fellowship. The fellowship resources artists to create projects and be engaged within the Tulsa city and community.
I have been feeling a need to come back to Oklahoma to do some much needed work for some time now. Professional work, cultural work, and personal work.
Oklahoma is a foundational location for me. I grew up in Oklahoma City, insulated within Black culture through my family, schools, and neighborhoods. Each time I’ve come back home, I am inspired by the people, the landscape, and the culture. And while I love these things, it is balanced with a disdain for the racism and oppressive policies that affect the livelihoods of Oklahomans, both presently and historically.
My work there during this time will be an exploration of love and hate, of care and confrontation, of holding close and shoving away. I will be creating paintings, public art, and video and audio documentation of subjects. This work will be largely done with two main projects, detailed below.
Stop Telling Women to Smile in Oklahoma: Addressing Gender Oppression Through Public Art
This project will be an extension of my long running project, STWTS. Here, I will be interviewing women and gender diverse folks on how they experience gender, sexism, homophobia and more within the state. What does it look like for them to navigate their everyday lives in various settings? How has the current administration, and legal changes affecting DEI, reproductive rights, and health care access affected them directly? What does it mean to be socialized as a woman or girl in a state that is largely conservative and christian?
From this engagement will come audio and video interviews platformed online, and temporary and permanent public art pieces, amplifying these women’s and non-binary folk’s voices on the ground and online.
Participate
If you are a woman or gender diverse person who would like to be interviewed for this project, please fill out this form.
Always & Forever: Memorializing Black Existence Beyond Physical Presence
For my Tulsa Artist Fellowship I will be working towards the creation of a sculptural, multisensory monument. At its core, this project asks how the memory of a people and experience are held long after the physical container for those experiences are gone. This project involves a few different processes. There will be social engagement that involves involving myself with local Black folks to record and document everyday life, as well as interiews and photography. From there, we will secure a site location and begin production on the public artwork. This project is still in conceptual development and will be updated as we go along.
To participate by way of engaging with me one-on-one, or if you want to invite me to your cultural event to hang out, please fill out this form. You can also fill out the form or email me directly if you would like to be involved in another way.
Open Call
Assistant(s)
I’m currently looking for an assistant. Someone smart, quick, efficient, and wonderful. This person will work with me for a few hours a week on outreach, organizational tasks, social media and more. If you’re interested in joining my team, fill out this form:Work With Me