Through the lens of my family and close friends and our trials and triumphs, my work reflects on how America’s racialized past continues to affect people of color today. By depicting myself and my loved ones in our everyday spaces, such as our homes and neighborhoods, I explore how the effects of larger social systems reflect themselves within our personal lives.

The work investigates concerns about how the privatization of public spaces relates to the treatment of the bodies of people of color and how centuries of dehumanization and othering, defined through W.E.B. Du Bois’s double consciousness, have distorted the way we are viewed in the world and how we view ourselves.

My portraits suggest resilience despite these obstacles of daily life. Through my figures’ gazes, there is a recognition of the pain and scars they and their ancestors have bared and a direct confrontation with their troubled history, as well as the judgements that come against them. This confrontation signifies their strength, agency, perseverance, and an eagerness to build new systems based on personal connections and mutual respect.