“What bolsters me is knowing I am loved, and I love people.”
Your work explores the early 2000s. If you were to soundtrack people viewing your work, what early Y2K tracks would you choose?
Ciara’s “Pick Up the Phone,” Beyonce’s “Yes,“ Uncle Luke’s “Scarred,“ Yung Joc’s “I Know You See It,” Aaliyah’s “Miss You,” Boosie’s “Set It Off,“ and C.O.A BaBii’s “Stick N Ride Mix.”, “I Love to Love“ by Jody Watley. Then, I’d insist on showing them the whole music video for Ciara’s “Promise.”
Detail of Pinball (curtain)
image courtesy of artist
Which archival news clip from the 2000s do you find yourself revisiting most often, and why?
Muntadhar al-Zaidi throwing a shoe at Little Bush. I have an image of each frame tracking the shoe’s trajectory. I also watch all footage I can find of journalists reporting on the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. I like it when the camera footage grows unclear due to the torrential rains and high winds, the blur of the houses as the camera pans. These videos feel poetic and tragic. Funny, but how milk is funny when it’s not safe to eat. How could a shoe possibly be a threat to a grown man who sanctioned the murders of thousands he never met, such that the thrower would need to be arrested? How could a camera even begin to capture the devastation of seasonal storms we all know return every year, and also why weren’t those who were affected offered more help?
I think these two events radicalized me from a very young age, as it was at these two moments that I realized the country of my birth was failing a good portion of its own citizens while simultaneously hurting those abroad.
Miss Wilma, 49×53″, pony beads, monofilament2024
image courtesy of Chris Schultz
Pony beads are central to your art. Do you recall the first time you used them in your work, and what drew you to them?
As a child, I stayed braided up and wore my fair share of beads and barrettes. I spent a fair amount of time bent over a kitchen sink, sitting on a toilet seat, or between someone’s knees getting my hair done at home. Even now, I like the beauty supply store because I like seeing the hair accessories organized and out for display. While in grad school, I started buying them in bulk. I felt disconnected from myself. I was born in Miami. Spent a good portion of my childhood there before reuniting with my mother in Louisiana. I’ve lived most of my life in the Deep South with groups of people differing in generations and nationalities. The Midwest has its own beauty, and its people are great, but there’s nothing like home. I wanted a reminder of where I’m from, close to me. Pony beads felt small enough and pretty enough.
I’ve wanted to work on a loom since I was a little girl, but they’re expensive. Buying one as an adult felt like wish fulfillment. I already had the beads, so I used them to spell out words. I started with affirmations from my family, and then I started weaving my poems. I started taking the smallest images I could find on the internet depicting historic events and bits of visual culture and resizing them much larger. Then I convert those images into graphs that I can use to weave.
Baby Book I, dimensions variable, pony beads, monofilament, 2024
image courtesy of Chris Schultz
If you could send one of your bead tapestries back in time to your younger self, which piece would it be, and what message would it carry?
In 2004, I was six years old, living with a legal guardian in Miami while my mother was in Louisiana. In late 2024, I remade a version of the baby book my mother lost while she was incarcerated in Louisiana. It’s a six-page book. The last page is a composition I wrote from the perspective of my mother. It reads “I love my baby and her jaundice hertoothlessness her cries her wails her cane-cutter feets my heart cradles her heart forever.“ I was separated from my mother when I was 5, and only met her again I was 11 or 12. We exchanged letters a handful of times, I think. That time apart was tough; there were many moments where I would’ve really appreciated knowing that.
Okay you’ll be Jade you’ll be Yasmin and I’ll be Sasha, 50×70″, pony beads + monofilament, 2024
image courtesy of artist
Care and rest are important aspects of your practice. What are your care rituals in these grueling times?
Girl! It’s rough out here. What bolsters me is knowing I am loved, and I love people. We look out for one another, and our spirits and minds are ours. I think about that, I go to therapy, and I take my SSRI.
My work is its own form of meditation. I am doing some kind of beaded work almost every day for three or more hours per day. I use that time to reflect on where I came from, what I’ve inherited from my family, what I’ve inherited as an American, and what must be done. Weaving is great because it’s a slow way of making. It teaches me patience; the demands of weaving require that I pay attention in a different way compared to watching something on a screen.
So you are based in Columbus, Ohio – an area of America I really don’t know much about. What is the art scene like there, and if you were showing us around, where would you take us?
In Columbus, there is a lot of live music. I’d take you to Ace of Cups, Café Bourbon Street. The poetry readings at Two Dollar Radio are fab. As far as art goes, there are a couple of museums and commercial spaces. I’m represented by Brandt Gallery, which recently moved downtown. There was a wonderful exhibition of Caribbean artists at the Columbus Museum of Art late last year. I think the artist-run spaces are interesting, too. There’s Riga House, which puts on readings. Dream Clinic has a small project space and shows monthly. Skylab Gallery is currently between spaces, but a couple of my friends are involved in its programming. If I were able, I’d take someone to Aminah Robinson’s house. She passed recently and left her estate under the stewardship of the Columbus Museum of Art. My understanding is that her home is filled with her life’s work. I think that’s beautiful.
Detail of Pinball (curtain)
Are there any local artists in your scene that we might not know who you want to shout out to?
Columbus is home to many artists, but the one I want to mention is Sa’dia Rehman. I love her work.
What’s next for you / any exciting projects coming up?
Well, I’ve kinda been on a space tip recently? This summer, I’m working on a series of tapestries focusing on celestial bodies. I’m making some beaded sculpture too! I’m working with Gabrielle Banhzaf, the curator of Shed Projects, and Margaret Kammerer, a ceramics artist, in May. Margaret and I will be in a two-person exhibition at Vessel City, an artist-run space in Cleveland. Gabrielle is curating! I’ll be going to Visible Records to attend a short residency in May as well. Later this year, I’m working with Reg Zehner, who is curating a solo exhibition of mine at Pecha Projects.
Lastly, who are your Y2K crushes or heroes?
100% without a doubt: Tiffany Pollard.
leo.