Headlands Center for the Arts

Artist Statement

My work explores the complexity and nuance of Black identity through my family’s history. I draw from my siblings’ and Nigerian-born parents’ memories while honoring their experiences and essential humanity. Using expressive brushwork, hand-stitched embroidery, and household textiles, I create layered portraits that uplift cultural memory. Each piece captures how family members reflect one another and illustrate how their everyday habits shape and enliven their living spaces. By integrating fabric and sewing techniques, I weave together the narratives of past and present. Hand stitching symbolizes the connections across generations, representing the labor of love inherent in family relationships. Found textiles with their repetitive patterns evoke the banal yet uniquely precious aspects of households, relationships, and memories. My paintings contend with the enduring results of diaspora and the renewal of belonging to a home.

While at Headlands

With the support of the Tournesol Award, I’m excited to expand both the conceptual and tangible aspects of my art. Having studio space at Headlands will allow me to increase the scale of my work, experiment with installation elements, and explore new themes. Recently, I’ve started working with photo transfer techniques, marking the start of a new artistic journey. I look forward to developing and refining this technique at Headlands. The pieces I create will be part of a final project showcasing a series of interconnected artworks. By seamlessly weaving together imagery through photo transfers, I aim to create a cohesive body of work that transcends time, inviting viewers to immerse themselves in a rich tapestry of stories.