2025
Of Earth, Of Color is a celebration of spirit, survival, and the sacred connection between people, land, lineage, and legacy. Rooted in Southern Black and Mexican Indigenous cultural relevance, the exhibition considers earth as more than ground—it is memory, labor, ritual, resistance, and home. Through organic materials, layered imagery, and culturally rooted forms, the works explore how both bodies and land carry history. At its center is a shared truth: we are of the land, and we shape the land. We carry what came before us, create from it, and still bloom.
Location
Echo Contemporary
785 Echo Street NW, Atlanta Ga, 30318
OF EARTH,
OF COLOR
W.I.P (work in progress) stood as an unfinished moment-raw, unfiltered, and unapologetic. It was not created to be polished, but to be present. The exposed lines, open space, and visible traces of revision invited viewers into the middle of the process, reminding us that becoming is not linear and that progress holds its own kind of power. By giving process the same space as the final product, this piece challenged the pressure to have it all figured out-honoring the in-between, the searching, and the beauty of progress.
These sculptural shovels examine the weight we carry through land, labor, lineage, and legacy. A tool made to break ground, dig beneath the surface, and tend what grows, the shovel becomes a reflection of the exhibition’s central duality: we are shaped by the land, and we shape it in return. Layered portraits and pigment transform each shovel, while the bricks below evoke what is built from that labor—home, community, culture, and inheritance. Together, the materials speak to respect of generations of Black and Brown hands that have cultivated, constructed, tended, and transformed the places we know as home.
Wild Growth, Southside presents a figure seated low among tall grass and scattered wildflowers, their body turned inward as their gaze meets the viewer directly. Fully rendered areas transition into exposed outlines, while the surrounding nature grows with greater detail and intensity. This contrast allows the figure to feel both present and partially concealed within the landscape. The work holds vulnerability and stillness together, reflecting the quiet strength of existing within spaces that continue to grow around us.
Rooted in Her Rest presents a figure lying within dense, overgrown grass, her body partially concealed while her steady gaze meets the viewer. Areas of careful rendering shift into exposed, sketched surfaces, creating a tension between visibility and becoming. Embedded within the landscape, the figure appears both sheltered and consumed by her surroundings. The work considers rest not as absence or retreat, but as a grounded state of presence, growth, and transformation.
Ferns & Fades begins with a familiar image, reimagined through the artist’s own memory and experience. The scene recalls time spent in Africa learning to cut hair, where a simple act of care opened space for stories, cultural exchange, and shared understanding. Within Of Earth, Of Color, the work considers how everyday rituals can hold deeper ties to one another.
Holy Ground, Heavy Stone No.1 Holy Ground, Heavy Stone considers the weight we inherit and the sacredness we create from it. Built through layers of stone, pigment, texture, and poured material, each work holds evidence of accumulation—of memory, survival, faith, and transformation. The series looks for beauty within the heaviness of our stories. The stones become vessels for both burden and praise.
Holy Ground, Heavy Stone No.2 Holy Ground, Heavy Stone considers the weight we inherit and the sacredness we create from it. Built through layers of stone, pigment, texture, and poured material, each work holds evidence of accumulation—of memory, survival, faith, and transformation. The series looks for beauty within the heaviness of our stories. The stones become vessels for both burden and praise.
Holy Ground, Heavy Stone No.3 Holy Ground, Heavy Stone considers the weight we inherit and the sacredness we create from it. Built through layers of stone, pigment, texture, and poured material, each work holds evidence of accumulation—of memory, survival, faith, and transformation. The series looks for beauty within the heaviness of our stories. The stones become vessels for both burden and praise.
Holy Ground, Heavy Stone No.4 Holy Ground, Heavy Stone considers the weight we inherit and the sacredness we create from it. Built through layers of stone, pigment, texture, and poured material, each work holds evidence of accumulation—of memory, survival, faith, and transformation. The series looks for beauty within the heaviness of our stories. The stones become vessels for both burden and praise.
Holy Ground, Heavy Stone No.5 Holy Ground, Heavy Stone considers the weight we inherit and the sacredness we create from it. Built through layers of stone, pigment, texture, and poured material, each work holds evidence of accumulation—of memory, survival, faith, and transformation. The series looks for beauty within the heaviness of our stories. The stones become vessels for both burden and praise.
Holy Ground, Heavy Stone No.6 Holy Ground, Heavy Stone considers the weight we inherit and the sacredness we create from it. Built through layers of stone, pigment, texture, and poured material, each work holds evidence of accumulation—of memory, survival, faith, and transformation. The series looks for beauty within the heaviness of our stories. The stones become vessels for both burden and praise.
Holy Ground, Heavy Stone No.7 Holy Ground, Heavy Stone considers the weight we inherit and the sacredness we create from it. Built through layers of stone, pigment, texture, and poured material, each work holds evidence of accumulation—of memory, survival, faith, and transformation. The series looks for beauty within the heaviness of our stories. The stones become vessels for both burden and praise.