Upper Room

Where do you go when there is nowhere to go?

Upper Room reflects my time here in North Philadelphia. During the pandemic I spent my days walking through the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood where I live. I find it to be a beautiful but disturbing place. Between the broken roads and sidewalks, dilapidated buildings, gun violence, constant police presence and encroaching gentrification, I often think about how this environment has accumulated on me and the people who live there. I think about how my spirit is lifted when I see black and brown youth riding dirt bikes, mountain bikes and horseback through the streets. I look at graffiti covered walls under a Philly sunset, and it feels like cracks of sunshine hitting my soul through stormy weather.

How do we carry our environment with us? Does it lift us up? Burden us? How do we patch ourselves and cover our scars? What parts of us are unmoved, unburdened, unchained? What role do I play in the in the growth and destruction of my own community?

I think about how as a black person living in this country, we often find ourselves with no sanctuary. No place where we feel truly safe or free to be ourselves. Even in our own homes. So where do you go when there’s nowhere to go? We must find peace within ourselves when there is only chaos around us. An inner sanctuary. This place I call the Upper Room.

Credits:

Photography Models:

Abdullah Ibn Abdulkareem Idris

Christopher Bowman

Francis Rashad Short

Herbert Morrison

Neysa Wellington

Tyler Shaide Huggins

Soso Capaldi

Choir:

St. Thomas Gospel Choir

Design Miami/Podium: America(s)

I was honored to be featured in Design Miami/Podium: America(s) Exhibition in 2020. The exhibition took place in the Moore Building and included in person as well as virtual programming. In the show I had a set of mugs and pitchers titled “#PhilOurCup” as well as four prints from my series in the New Yorker. I also spoke on a panel titled “America, America(s): Rethinking "American" Design”. The recording for the panel as well as a guided tour of the show can be found here. This set as well as the framed prints are available on Design Miami’s Website here.

Human Nature

The Human Nature 2019 exhibition brought together 9 artists of color from around the country to make work around the human form. The exhibition took place during the 2019 National Conference for the Education of the Ceramic Arts in Minneaoplis and was located at the Minnesota African American Heritage Museum & Gallery.

AOC are continually faced with the question of why “WE” do what we do. The American ceramics field is a largely White space and but the reality is that globally ceramics is not. The inspiration for this show comes from the way AOC in America struggle to navigate the White spaces that we call the ceramics field. It seems we are left to explain why “WE” create what we create. The short answer is that it is just human to create but the spaces where ceramics are made are largely inaccessible to black and brown and low income communities. Instead of being seen as the exceptions in our field, the Human Nature exhibition brings together talented artists from around the country to show the diversity, talent, and humanity that AOC around the country have to offer.