artbysemente_visual

••• Also very excited to announce that I have one work on view in the group show “Reciprocal Relationships Art Exhibit!! 💐🌿

“Ponto de Nanã” 2023, acrylic, flower petals, leaves, and mixed media on canvas. 16” x 20”.

DM or email [email protected] to purchase

••• “No Tempo dos Orixás”, 2017 was one of my first orixá paintings and one of my first commissions! 🎨🥇

At the time, I was in MA/PhD school trying to understand what my research needed to be.

I’ve always made art for myself. To survive life experiences. Grad 👩🏽‍🎓 school was a time when survival was extremely challenging and living off of a stipend of 20K in Austin wasn’t cutting it.

So I started painting for others and selling my work. Looking back, this collector got quite a deal on this piece because I didn’t know how to price my work (still learning) so I didn’t actually cover costs of materials + my time from the sale.

Still, I was proud of myself for beginning my journey as a professional . The title means, “In the Time of the Orishas” which thinks back and forward into a past and future where orishas are honored, remembered and living in peace. It is also a nod to the concept of “divine timing”.

Things don’t always go the way we expect or on our timeline. The gods make that call. In African spiritual epistemology, time is circular, not linear; what feels like the past, maybe was just the beginning. Both historical and Afro-futuristic, this large scale painting reminds us that Black divinity existed long before European colonization of African and will exist long after this capitalist society has crumbled in on itself.

It is a hope and a prayer to remember our myths as I was reminded ’s book talk this week. Our myths are foundational to understanding African legacies did not begin with trauma and violence and will not end that way either. ✌🏽
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•••it takes deep, bare, honest, and consistent self-work to be okay, especially in 2024 🙂‍↕️

going from k-12 to college to grad school to postdoc to full-time job, nonstop left me burnt out and overstimulated often. I was forced to crash 💥 and burn and come back to my with even more intention.

while community is crucial, we live in our bodies and there is only one person that can ever really know how we feel, think, and one person has control over how we respond.

take time to rest, reflect, and hold yourself close with so much compassion to get through this life.

shout out to the little souls that help us get through ft. Mr. Pup-pup 🐩🐶
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