The Awakened Artist: Unmasking Africa’s Origin Story

For me, drawing is more than just placing pencil on paper. It is a form of something I always refer to as "visual listening." I spend hundreds of hours with each piece, trying to feel the life behind the skin and the stories hidden in the eyes. This series is my attempt to uncover the truth of who we are...where we came from, how we lost ourselves and how we can find each other again. ​I've always used the subtleness of pencil and charcoal to show that every face holds a story that belongs to all of us. ​The Evolution of the Awakening ​    The Lost Identity This was the first step of my journey. It represents that quiet, heavy feeling of being disconnected from our roots. I wanted to capture the moment a person realizes they have lost a piece of their true self to the modern world and the silent longing to find that missing identity again.     Mother of Mankind After looking at the individual, I looked back at our collective beginning. This piece is a tribute to Afri...

Daughter of Nations I feel incredibly blessed and humbled to finally share this piece with you all. For me, an artwork truly begins long before the pencil touches the paper. It begins with a connection that centers the narrative. ​For months, I was totally focused on the technical side of Daughter of Nations . I spent all my time trying to get the folds of her headwrap exactly right, the weight of the beads perfect and her eyes perfectly balanced. I convinced myself I was just working on my technique and getting the details right.  As I finished the last few touches and getting the Gelé (head wrap) just right and adding those glows that popped against her skin, the drawing finally hit different. It felt like she was actually looking right at me. It was then that I realized that this work was never truly about representation but was actually about Remembrance. ​Beyond the Veil of Identity ​ You need to understand that she does not stand as a political statement, nor does she ex...