Putti, cherubs, and angels have been an enduring symbol throughout the canon of Western art. They’ve been used in a multitude of ways from Ancient Greece, to early religious imagery in the Abrahamic faiths, to the Renaissance, all the way up to the ornate decorative cherubs in my studio. But, if angels are meant to be the embodiment of innocence, love, and hope, or the representation of souls in heaven, why are they almost always male, and exclusively depicted as white?
Read moreUnity I & II
The iconography seen in these pieces is derived from Day 1, Light from my critically acclaimed series In Seven Days…
I created this symbol of the seven hands, with different gestures, united in a circle of light. It is a powerful example of how non-verbal gestures often embody or communicate so much more than words. You can find out more about this symbol, and the iconography of the entire series here.
In Seven Days...was about capturing a specific moment in time. I wanted to witness Obama’s election on behalf of my mixed heritage children, and their generation, who were too young to watch it for themselves. To document it and understand what it meant, for them.
Read moreStruggle, Solidarity, Power: The History of the Iconic Raised Fist
I’ve always been fascinated by body language, hand gestures, and all of the ways we communicate without words. I’ve explored this in almost all of my work, but especially when making the series In Seven Days...
Hand gestures are a way of visually communicating a complex story, in a seemingly simple way. I think perhaps the hand gesture that conveys the most powerful message and embodies the longest and most interesting history is the raised fist. I used it in the second print in the In Seven Days series, Day 2 struggle.
In my first blog post, I explain the incredible history of the iconic image of the raised fist.
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