Individual Artist Project

I bring my perspective as one of very few black visual artists who has chosen to maintain a creative practice in Northern Minnesota. I consider it part of my purpose as an artist here to bring authentic perspectives connected to the experiences of black people living in our region, and this show is an extension of that work. Often the stories of black leadership have been told and represented through the voices of dominant/non-BIPOC culture, so this alone is an important fact to take into account regarding the impact my work will make. It also leans into my practice as a teaching artist, I've participated in several local BIPOC artist residencies on an annual basis. The work in Decolonizing my Imagination will be work I can share with local youth during my upcoming BIPOC school residencies in Duluth.; New skills I hope to attain through this process are skills in research and finding resources that are not buy non-BIPOC sources. I'd like to actively challenge myself to resist my own colonized thinking in this process and journal to keep track of feelings and challenges along the way. Typically, I am not a portrait artist, but I want to see how I can adapt my abstract style into a new visual form and challenge myself to create recognizable faces, while still using my recognizable style. I'll also be experimenting more with textiles and fabric in these images. An external goal will be to inspire audience curiosity and transformed perspectives around popular black activists throughout history. Since receiving my first grant from ARAC, I have had more than a dozen shows. I partnered on several mural projects and learned the process of creating a mural, to the point where I completed my first large-scale solo mural opportunity at Community Action Duluth in 2022. There is a lot of momentum in the work I am doing and have stayed actively busy with my art at the forefront of all of my work. I'm also able to leverage many community resources and connections I've made through my work at Health Equity Northland. I'm also successfully touring an exhibit co-organized with Moira Villiard called "Waiting for Beds" that uses posters, community submissions, and our own personal work to expose gaps in systems meant to serve people fleeing domestic violence, seeking shelter, mental healthcare, and addiction. We've successfully toured this exhibit for the past year and are continuing to create programming and host workshops for the show. ; Methods I will use to measure the outcome of this project will be; including but not limited to:comment books for visitor feedback; dialogue w/fellow artists, viewers, school ; tracking possible TV, radio, social media. My installation openings,typically interactive and with elements of community dialogue and Q and A around the subject matter of the art. Audiences willrespond with a greater sense of understanding to what decolonization is and why it's important, also will respond that the exhibit has opened their eyes to the lives of activists and heroes throughout history featured in the portraits. This would be a wonderful opportunity not only in the communities that I am connected with but also others that are also seeking new ways of thinking. Because of the shift of looking at history, without the inaccurate truth. With most of my art, my goal is always to start conversations. This show will give me the opportunity to explore my own artistic abilities with a new less tainted vision.