I'm honored to have been one of three artists chosen for the inaugural EmpowerHer Artist Residency at the Fulton County Library System's Central Library, alongside two other incredible women artists.
During the residency, I worked on new pieces from my series The Revolution Starts in the Subconscious, including a piece called Divine Citizenship — a 36"x48" acrylic that came out of everything happening around borders, who belongs and who doesn't. As an immigrant, citizenship has always felt strange to me, because before anything else, I'm a human on this planet, not a displaced being trying to fit into something created by others. That piece became about letting go of that kind of temporary, man-made control.
It was a beautiful experience — speaking to patrons, having my art displayed in the gallery both upstairs and downstairs, and in my own residency studio. I even got to see myself on a huge outdoor screen in the middle of the city, which was surreal.
Thank you to Tisha Smith and Vikki Walters for making this residency possible.