FLOWERS FOR HER HAIR

FOUNDER100cmx80cm - Acrylic Paint, Fabric and Beads on Canvas,

October 2022

October arrives, and so do all the businesses trying to make money off of human tragedy. It always puzzles me when I see « Pink Merch » being sold with no donations or action attached to it. Somehow, we have gotten to a point where it seems perfectly okay for breast cancer awareness to have become a « seasonal buying » excuse. Cotton candy does not save lives. This year, when you sport that pink ribbon or flower or t-shirt or bag or phone cover, make sure you are also doing your part: donate for cancer research, mobilize for a better cure, help someone struggling with the disease, promote screening, support fundraising campaigns, and most importantly, remember to make this symphony in pink more than just noise.

100cmx80cm- Acrylic Paint and Fabric Flowers on Canvas, January 2023

I read recently that gold particles and other metals are passed up to us from the soil through food, so that each of our bodies potentially contains about 2 milligrams of gold! Since surplus metals are naturally rejected by the body through our skin and hair, human hair shafts contain nanoparticles of gold.

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Despite most of us not knowing this curious trivia, hair has always been a fascination for human beings.

So much so that there are now multibillion dollar industries surrounding hair products and treatments, and serious issues ranging from racial stigma to body shaming to social status to religious debate with hair at their source: Hair dyeing or going gray? Taming curls or staying natural? Embracing baldness or getting implants? Wigs or weaves? Waxing or laser? Head covering or visible hair?

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So much heartache and judgement from a feature naturally designed to shield and protect our bodies makes me wonder; is it worth all the pain?

100cmx80cm- Acrylic Paint, Fabric Collage and Handmade Fabric Flowers on Canvas, February 2023

It always puzzles me, the assumptions that are made about women of color when they choose to wear something, anything, which is not considered western clothing. Most of all, when a woman wears a scarf that covers her hair- completely or partially. Instead of being viewed as a simple choice, the scarf becomes the instant source of a judgement of character; and a million assumptions are instantly made about her, most of them baseless. What if that scarf were a mane of flowers?

100cmx80cm- acrylic paint, fabric and beads canvas- April 2023

The crown we put on to face a world of bigotry, of misogyny, of judgement and of injustice, is made up of flowers.

It is as resilient,

as reliable,

as relentless

as Spring;

returning every year no matter how hard the winter has been.

100cmx80cm- acrylic paint, fabric collage, and handmade roses on canvas- July 2023

In July 2020, I created a pen and ink drawing called “Headdress” with this caption: “we each carry what we experience as bits of stored information that shape how we evolve as people. It becomes our headdress; an intricate map of color and pattern that draws who we are and where we go from there. Think about that power you have over others in your next interaction. Try to keep it beautiful.”

This is the fabric and paint version of this work- “Floral Symphony” illustrates the load that builds with every judgement made about us by others. The power is still ours, though. Do we buckle underneath this weight, or do we wear it proudly; a crown of roses- a glorious symphony of strength?

100cmx80cm - mixed media on canvas - December 2023

We are a symphony
In white
Shrouds of lace
Flowering, bright
Showers of pearls
A rain
Of pouring light
Dousing vermillion
Icing the burns
Flooding the insides
Of men
With faded souls

We are a symphony
In white
Jasmine blossoms
Sprouting, despite
Blankets of snow
Drifting
Wiping the night
Draping
The boiling hearts
Of Mothers
Bathed in all the colors
Of sorrow

100cmx80cm- acrylic paint, beads, and handmade flowers on canvas- March 2024

In the midst of this daily business of surviving, we need to take a moment to honor our pain: to mourn our dead, to let the darkness in, and the anger set, and the sadness envelop us like the night. Then, after we have felt every excruciating cell in our body burn and sear and boil over, we can breathe in, we can get up, and we can go on.