My art practice reflects my interest in using visual art as a method for encoding my family’s oral history, genealogy, land practices, botanical records, and related folklore.

As an artist-farmer, nature and the garden are my research labs for attaining deeper knowledge through the process of observing repetitive movements such as those found in plant and seasonal cycles, including the celestial bodies and cycles. The artworks featured in this journal were created as part of a series and larger oral history project on my family’s stories of food, spiritual practices, tenant farming experiences, and the land in the Mississippi Delta. The eight-pointed star (octagram) depicted in much of my ceramic and mixed media work reflects the repetition of this motif found in both my grandmother’s hand-sewn quilts, which are family keepsakes passed on to me by my mother. The octagram is a common symbol found and used extensively in the quilting traditions of Indigenous peoples, with references to freedom, the North Star Polaris, and also the Sirius B Star. Other materials that have found a home in the mixed media works in this series; found cabinets, wood, wire, brass, acrylic, ink, fabric, paper, and acetate.

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The Okra Parable
‍2022. Canvas, acrylic, ink, net, fabric, acetate. Width/diameter 2’. Depth 1”. Front and back.

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Winona Willie: Deacon Tenant Farmer
‍2020. Acrylic, ink, fabric, paper, burlap, acetate, aluminum. Width/diameter 16" Depth 1". Front and back.