I created the following paintings since graduating from college in 2008. The first pieces of this series were birthed while I was living in Brazil in 2009. That year initiated the start of my conscious spiritual journey in this lifetime and my orientation to my art and politics shifted a great deal. As I referenced in my artist statement, I became less interested in illustrating a political ideology, and more engaged in reflecting on the resilience of humanity across dimension and space. In my spiritual practice, I began to invite the love, protection, wisdom and guidance of enlightened ancestors, and many historical ancestors showed up in my paintings. I also became more grounded in Afrikan and North American Indigenous philosophies that honor the cyclical nature of time, the interconnectedness of all life, and the presence and power of the spirit world in struggle. These paintings span a seven year period in which I began a career as a high school humanities teacher (which left very little time for art making) and went through a two year initiation into the Sacred Feminine. Through this time I have explored the intersection of spirituality and politics, and my work is a reflection of my attempt to bridge the particular material struggles embodied in Black history with universal themes of Love and Resilience.