for east african girls that have considered self-worth / when drake is not enuf

Jacquard Woven - Wool, cotton
38” x 50”
(38 cm x 127 cm)
2018

Photos courtesy of Erik Gould.


In my youth, I learned how to make art from listening to music: layers of multimedia collages of instruments, vocals, and machinery– and how music has the ability to convey universes of meaning through an iconic beat or a simple ad-lib. for east african girls is inspired by the storytellers who relate the nuances of their experience to overarching missions– storytellers who place genres like Hip-Hop in their historical contexts, and who think about how the self-referential world honors, condemns and progresses culture and cultural analysis.

The title text is woven into the piece, another nod to Ntozake Shange, imbued with irony in referencing her play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/  When the Rainbow Is Enuf.” The play on the title reflects the biting humor and pitfalls of using popular culture as a coping mechanism to treat pain.