Dear Paula (a letter to my Ancestor)
For various reasons my family was particularly exposed to and vulnerable to the attacks on our community. This has led to disconnection that I am working to repair as I move on to the next phase of my art project that concerns ancestral engagement. While I considered getting my grandmother a cheap headstone myself, I would like to fundraise in an attempt to get her one that reflects her true value. This headstone will be a symbol of my family beginning to heal the wounds of the past and hopefully also an inspiration for others showing them that it’s never too late to reconnect and repair.
Please click here for the fundraiser for my grandmother’s tombstone (which links to the open letter)
Between Two Worlds: A WURD Event Report Back
In response to Trump’s shameless assaults on the Black community, a local Black oriented media station hosted a community event to strategize and educate on what we can do moving forward. The large room was jam packed with people standing along the wall. Plenty of folks in the Black community understand the threat posed by Trump and his administration and people seemed to be hungry for community, commiseration and ways to fight back. As a long time activist and organizer I’d like to share my thoughts on this event, highlighting both what went well and what could be improved upon in the future.
Dangerous Minds – a simple collage that illustrates how I plan to respond to Trump, gentrification and all flavors of white nonsense moving forward. The street shown here is Wyalusing Ave, the one I grew up on. Our enemies might control the police, military, etc, but there are other kinds of power, like the power to change minds and thoughts. History is a powerful tool for such purposes, especially when people learn the truth about what has actually happened in this world and what the nazis were doing when they had full and total control. The work of Victor Klemperer and his analysis of fascism is critical to understanding the nature of the beast we’re facing today. This image is a reminder that history in general is powerful, but so are our own personal histories; something that I’m only recently coming to fully appreciate.
Confronting Genocide: A photo from a recently published series featuring two Palestinian artists I met while living in Berlin in 2023. Our visit to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp memorial a few months before October 7th was sadly and unfortunately quite prophetic.
You can read more about how this collaboration came about and see the full photo series here.
My housing search ad. As someone who is from West Philly and familiar with gentrification, I feel like I need to make more noise about what’s going on around here and incorporate this housing struggle into my artistic practice.
Have you heard of the “Moche sex pots”? These Indigenous ceramics from ancient Peru are fascinating. The Moche people made all sorts of intricate and complex ceramics depicting animals, daily life, nature and ceremonies. However, they are most well known for their erotic ceramics which are among the most important and valuable erotic art from antiquity. The Moche world view, like most Indigenous American cultures, was much more aligned with gender and sexual freedom than our own oppressive society. The following text perfectly sums up my experiences:
We should remember that most of Amerikkka’s wealth and the capitalist system in general is built on a foundation of the flesh trade aka chattel slavery. The continued sexual exploitation of vulnerable people at the hands of the powerful is not something we should ignore. This is why I felt compelled to write this open letter to Noam Chomsky. As an admirer of his, I’m approaching this with good intentions, drawing upon my own history and memories to highlight why his response to questions about his problematic association were inappropriate and dismissive of the victims. Click here to read the full essay / open letter
Revisiting ‘Uncle Tom’ …coming soon!
‘GASLIGHTED’ – Digital Collage challenging the genocidal propaganda being deployed against the Palestinians. Challenging the Cynical Exploitation of Trauma. CLICK HERE to read the essay
What’s happening with Philly’s first Climate Justice mural? [UPDATE]
Gentrification in East Kensington.
The Philadelphia Art Commission approved this mural concept in June of 2021
Upcoming Events
Weekly Environmental Justice Editorial
Climate change and the state of the world got you down? Do you need a laugh? Check out this amazing satire immediately! “Greensumption” is a classic!